Une été à La Goulette

With "Halfaouine" ("Boy of the Terraces"), Férid Boughédir drew aside the veil on modern everyday Tunisian life as seen through the eyes of a little boy. A Summer in La Goulette still concentrates on everyday Arab life, but this time the action takes place in 1967. Until the Six-Day War that same year, political, social and religious life is broad-minded and tolerant. A summer in La Goulette is in many respects carefree.

Three seventeen-year-old friends agree that they will lose their virginity this summer, but when their parents discover the girls' intention, they react strongly and in keeping with their respective outdated traditions. The families, who are friends and neighbours, have different religions, you see. Mériem is Muslim, Tina Jewish and Gigi Catholic. For a short while tolerance is in a tight spot, but in the long run the fathers of the families cannot do without one another's company and friendship after all, and the girls have the last word.

The film's only unsympathetic character is the elderly property shark Double-Hadj, who poses as a champion of virtue even though he is obsessed with the thought of Mériem's naked body. Here, too, justice is done.

"A Summer in La Goulette" is an uplifting and sensual comedy of remembrance about a bygone time and a bygone world. Above all, the film is a tribute to the joy of life and to tolerance, which can almost work miracles.