Yesterday was a real blessing here in Kalamazoo. During the Francophone Film Festival in the Western Michigan University, one of the most touching Canadian film was presented by Canadian/Lebanese director Maryanne Zehil : From my window without a home is a bright and sharp story about a Lebanese woman who balks at the pressure to be a traditional woman and leaves her four-year-old daughter to immigrate to Quebec. To deal with the pain of separation, she burns all bridges to her past. But when she meets her daughter seventeen years later, all that she has tried to forget returns with a vengeance. This talented storyteller is remarkable as much as her film.
11 Reviews
A deep thought on identity
kafkabond13 May 2007
From my window that doesn't have a home... This film has a very pertinent title. It is in fact through a window that Sana's drama evolve. She rejected Lebanon and the mother role that her society imposed upon her. Because this is the story of a woman who doesn't have a home nowhere and who is trying to forget this country that she loves after all, this country for which "one returns from everywhere to live in or to die in" (an approximative translation). Very touching film full of emotions and yet a lot of reserve. A film that questions with intelligence Identity and immigration. A must see. The main character is played by Louise Portal, magnificent actress with multiple talents.
Sooooo impressive!!!!
nadah19676 May 2010
This is a wonderful film, very touching and so true and authentic!!! This is a wonderful film, very touching and so true and authentic!!! This is a wonderful film, very touching and so true and authentic!!! This is a wonderful film, very touching and so true and authentic!!! This is a wonderful film, very touching and so true and authentic!!! This is a wonderful film, very touching and so true and authentic!!! This is a wonderful film, very touching and so true and authentic!!! This is a wonderful film, very touching and so true and authentic!!! This is a wonderful film, very touching and so true and authentic!!! This is a wonderful film, very touching and so true and authentic!!! This is a wonderful film, very touching and so true and authentic!!! This is a wonderful film, very touching and so true and authentic!!!
Bravo *****
Anaistoussignant16 May 2007
With a very low budget,the young director Maryanne Zehil, from Lebanese origin surely, presents her first feature. An ambiguous title who describes 3 women, 3 generations of different cultures, with many visits between Quebec and Lebanon, mother-daughter confrontations. This is the portrait of 2 cultures that meet, embrace, abandon each other with confrontation and meet again. When we are marked by a mother who abandoned us, we should liberate the tears of the past before being able to function again with serenity in the present and hope to love in the future. When I left the Parisien, I went searching for a specialized boutique to buy some Lebanese coffee.
Amazing
b-reem198 January 2008
I went to see this movie during the Dubai international film festival and was a little bit worry, because it is originally in french and I have never liked french movies. I chose to sit in a place where I can leave whenever I want to, if I am bored during the film. But, when the light went of, I was totally taken by this wonderful story, so emotional and so true, and I felt, at one point, that it was my own life projected on the screen. When the film was over, the producer was there and she answered with a lot of respect and awareness, all the questions that were asked to her (she is Lebanese and Canadian and very young!). Then I have realized that this film was not only the story of my life, but as well the story of each and every Arab woman... Thank you for such a wonderful film made out of a lot of sensibility, conscience and sadness, but still a lot of hope... CONGRATULATIONS
A huge window on mother/daughter relationship...
marcetisabelle200013 May 2007
First time director Maryanne Zehil talks about mother/daughter relationship.
Through the story, we see the evolution of the mother Sana, ( Louise Portal) and the daughter Dounia. Dialogues are sharp and explain what each one of them got through : Sana left Lebanon because she was suffocating, leaving behind her eight years old daughter. Dounia is searching for her mother who betrayed her when she promised to come back and never did.
That's what the film reveals first.
But what is much more interesting is what the image suggest while we follow, first Dounia to Lebanon were we meet the grand-mother, then Sana who discover again the past that she's trying hard to deny.
I payed attention to the scene when she meets the gardener.
Sana understands then, that her mother had a secret and that she lived suffocating by an impossible love and suffocating by the Lebanese culture.
It's with a lot of finesse that Maryanne Zehil presents (in my opinion), the true father of Sana, opening up a huge window on the past of all these mothers and daughters, on their silence and rebellion, being Lebanese or Quebecoises.
See this film for the inner journey that it provokes.
Through the story, we see the evolution of the mother Sana, ( Louise Portal) and the daughter Dounia. Dialogues are sharp and explain what each one of them got through : Sana left Lebanon because she was suffocating, leaving behind her eight years old daughter. Dounia is searching for her mother who betrayed her when she promised to come back and never did.
That's what the film reveals first.
But what is much more interesting is what the image suggest while we follow, first Dounia to Lebanon were we meet the grand-mother, then Sana who discover again the past that she's trying hard to deny.
I payed attention to the scene when she meets the gardener.
Sana understands then, that her mother had a secret and that she lived suffocating by an impossible love and suffocating by the Lebanese culture.
It's with a lot of finesse that Maryanne Zehil presents (in my opinion), the true father of Sana, opening up a huge window on the past of all these mothers and daughters, on their silence and rebellion, being Lebanese or Quebecoises.
See this film for the inner journey that it provokes.
I like this one
danyinthemovie20 December 2006
I have read somewhere that the budget of the film is 500000 dollars. If it is the case, then it is a first feature very impressive. I am french and the look that the director poses on the Canadian and Lebanese societies are very interesting. I like the sensitivity of the director, the music of the film and the psychological profile of each character. I don't like the girl she was not very sympatic during the whole film. Some scenes made me cry and some others made me laugh and this what I like most about a movie, it is when it grabs you emotionally. And this is definitely what this film did. I recommend this film without any hesitation.
A very sensitive film, full of emotion
sozine15 May 2010
I went to see the film without expecting anything at all (I was invited at the avant-premiere). I like to encourage Lebanese filmmakers and I am curious to see what Lebanese directors have to say about their country and their people. I was even more curious since it is a Lebanese woman, who lives abroad on top of it!! And actually I was overwhelmed by this wonderful film. It is very nostalgic, in a very sensitive way... and the story is so brilliant like I haven't seen yet in our cinema. I was swept away with a lot of emotion (yes I did cry!) I wish all the best to this young writer, director and producer!! (She looks like a teenager, she was wearing a jeans with tennis shoes, which is very rare for a Lebanese woman, let me tell you!). Anyway, it was a real pleasure and I am looking forward to her next film!
Louise Portal : gorgeous
alaindemarais16 May 2007
Very good movie. A little bit slow at the beginning... different... the director shows us a very deceiving side of the Lebanese society but very true.It's enough to have an open mind to appreciate the message. I liked a lot Louise Portal who was able to be in the role of a Lebanese woman and a quebecoise woman... I liked mostly all the emotions it made me live. Very recommended film. Very good movie. A little bit slow at the beginning... different... the director shows us a very deceiving side of the Lebanese society but very true.It's enough to have an open mind to appreciate the message. I liked a lot Louise Portal who was able to be in the role of a Lebanese woman and a Canadian woman... I liked mostly all the emotions it made me live. Very recommended film.
Excellent! Bravo!
omar4598115 May 2010
Very good movie with a wonderful dramatic story. The producer said that it was made with a very low budget, but it would have been very hard for me to guest it if she did not say it. It is a very intense film with impressive characters and the Canadian actress is soooooo beautiful... Thank you for such a great film! I hope to see very soon your next film! Very good movie with a wonderful dramatic story. The producer said that it was made with a very low budget, but it would have been very hard for me to guest it if she did not say it. It is a very intense film with impressive characters and the Canadian actress is soooooo beautiful... Thank you for such a great film! I hope to see very soon your next film!
How wonderful the movie is
fakokundeazeez12 May 2021
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