Mascarades (PG)

A tremendously enjoyable. heart-warming comedy

Director: Lyes Salem
Starring: Lyes Salem, Sarah Reguieg, Mohamed Bouchaib
Algeria/France, 2009, 1 hour 32 minutes, subtitles

Fri 12 March 6.30pm The Courtyard Hereford

A delightful executed farce about the wedding-that-never-was, this delivers sharp character comedy, trenchant social satire and a real sense of the interplay between the domestic and public spheres in Algerian village life. Things get out of hand when status-hungry, Mounir, the proud and possessive brother of narcoleptic Rym, drunkenly boasts that his sister is engaged to a mythical European businessman. Rym however, is determined to marry Mounir's best friend who hasn't yet had the courage to ask for her hand. A tremendously enjoyable film, this has real warmth and heart with its beautifully written script and nicely judged performances.