Divines (film)
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Houda Benyamina |
| Produced by | Marc-Benoît Créancier |
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| Starring | Oulaya Amamra |
| Music by | Demusmaker |
| Cinematography | Julien Poupard |
| Edited by | Loïc Lallemand Vincent Tricon |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Diaphana Films |
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Release date
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Running time
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105 minutes |
| Country | France Qatar |
| Language | French |
| Budget | $2.4 million |
| Box office | $2.3 million |
Divines is a 2016 French-Qatari drama film directed by Houda Benyamina. It was screened in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. At Cannes, Houda Benyamina won the Caméra d'Or. The film also was an official selection of the Toronto International Film Festival in the Discovery section. It was released on Netflix worldwide (except in France) on 18 November 2016.
Dounia is a teenage girl living in a housing project on the outskirts of Paris with her mother. She and her best friend Maimouna hustle for money, shoplifting from supermarkets and then reselling their wares on the streets to their classmates.
The two girls have a secret hiding place in the catwalk of a local theatre where they observe dance auditions. Djigui, an untrained dancer, catches Dounia's eye. One day Maimouna dares Dounia to spit on him and she does, resulting in him trying to chase her down. Trying to follow Dounia he ends up slipping and she rescues him by pulling him up from the catwalk.
During school Dounia is expected to be trained as a receptionist, rebelling against her teacher she makes fun of her for having no money and then vows to earn more money than her teacher could ever dream of, before quitting school. One of the older students at school, Rebecca, shows the kids video from a trip abroad and says she wants to go and open a bar and enter the sex tourism industry which is constantly booming. Determined to be part of Rebecca's crew, Dounia observes her giving drugs to Samir and then follows him. Discovering where he hides his drugs, she steals them from him and brings them to Rebecca, telling her that she would do a better job as a dealer. Impressed, Rebecca agrees to let Dounia start working for her.
Rebecca gives Dounia and Maimouna a series of odd jobs which they successfully complete, working up the ranks from chores, to dealing drugs. Rebecca eventually confides in them that she wants to use Dounia as bait to sneak into the apartment of Reda, a rich man, to steal one hundred thousand euros off of him as he once told her where it was hidden in his apartment during a drug binge.
Dounia continues to hide her money in the theatre but when it is gone she confronts Djigui who refuses to give it back.
Dounia and Maimouna succeed in getting the mark to notice Dounia, however when it's time to leave the club they find Samir isn't where he said he would be. Going home Dounia finds Samir having sex with her mother. Enraged she goes to his home and burns his car. When the police show up she throws glass bottles at them leading her to be arrested. When her mother picks her up at the station, the two are berated by Maimouna's parents and Dounia loses Rebecca's favor.
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