Blog Directory CineVerse: Blurring the lines between documentary and dramatization

Blurring the lines between documentary and dramatization

Wednesday, September 4, 2024

Not to be confused with the 1938 film of the same name helmed by Michael Curtiz, Four Daughters is a compelling documentary, directed by Kaouther Ben Hania, which premiered last year at the Cannes Film Festival. This co-production between Tunisia, France, Germany, and Saudi Arabia tells the harrowing true story of Olfa Hamrouni, a Tunisian mother whose life is shattered when her two daughters are radicalized and join ISIS. The film skillfully intertwines reality with dramatization, utilizing interviews, re-enactments, and archival footage to delve into the profound emotional and psychological impact on Olfa and her remaining daughters.

To hear a recording of our CineVerse group discussion of Four Daughters, conducted last week, click here.


The “documentary” approach here by female director Hania is meta-realism, which means a style that draws attention to its own nature and narrative structure. Common in postmodern works as metafiction, it appears in various media and encourages reflection on storytelling. This style often features self-aware characters or narrators, as seen in Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair, where the protagonist interacts with characters from Jane Eyre. Metafiction also breaks traditional narrative conventions, such as in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, where the main character directly engages with the audience, breaking the fourth wall.

It’s a refreshing take on dramatic reenactments, having Olfa, Eya, and Tayssir play themselves while also interacting with actors portraying Olfa and her older missing daughters. It blurs the lines between documentary and dramatization. Per Slant Magazine critic Derek Smith: “In a particularly canny move, Hania never presents reenacted sequences as standalone scenes in their “finished” form, instead using the mostly unrehearsed collaborations between Olfa, Eya, and Tayssir and the actors working with them as the raw material for her film… As Olfa is always on set, and frequently in the frame as Sabr plays her, she’s forced to deal with her own culpability in real time, whether through revelations she makes on her own or Sabr questioning why she was so strict with her daughters… It’s the unique spirit of this collaboration—not only toward getting realistic performances, but plumbing the motivations and emotions of everyone involved—that makes Four Daughters so compelling. And because it’s so open about its behind-the-scenes process, we’re witness to how the artifice of performance and reenactment enhances, rather than diminishes, the depth of emotions of Olfa’s story.”

This exercise is less about re-enacting past events accurately or thoroughly and more about (1) evoking unscripted, spontaneous emotions and memories in the three remaining family members, (2) getting the mother and younger daughters to talk about their traumas, resentments, and difficult feelings, (3) exploring the familial dynamics between these real people, and (4) observing how even the actors playing the mother and older daughters—who are trained to compartmentalize their work and not get personally involved—are inevitably affected by their exposure to the real women and their recollections.

Film critic Peyton Robinson wrote: “Four Daughters” prioritizes empowering its women to take ownership of telling their story while also allowing its actors to participate in it… As Olfa and the sisters give perspective on their shared trauma and heartbreak and discuss the underlying principles of it with each other and the actresses, what ensues is not simply the story of a family but a tour de force examination of women’s place in the world and the costs of how they choose to cope with it.”

However, while we trust in what the family relays to the viewer, this is not exactly an objective doc. The testimonies could be biased and the recollections altered by distorted memory. We do not hear from the real Rahma, Ghofrane, or any of the actual men depicted by the sole male actor. The fates of Rahma and Ghofrane are truthfully told, but there are many subjective POVs here that prevent us from completely knowing who or what was responsible for many of the traumas and outcomes.

The filmmakers seem to be non-judgemental, showing Olfa and her sisters in both good and bad lights by allowing the real persons to speak for themselves and propel the narrative. There is no omniscient, faceless narrator whose disembodied voice navigates us through this story; we rely completely on the real family and the actors playing the missing persons for information, at least until toward the end when archival news footage reveals exactly what happened to Ghofrane and Rahma.

Four Daughters’ main message is breaking the cycle of trauma and family dysfunction. Olfa reveals that she turned out exactly like her mother and that “the curse will continue” with her daughters. But the agency and modern sensibilities that Eya and Tayssir demonstrate give us hope that their generation can progress from the restrictions and closed-mindedness that characterized her mother’s generation. However, the final still frame shot of her young granddaughter reminds us that progress and improved lives aren’t guaranteed; the future is decidedly uncertain.

The intricate dynamics of family relationships, particularly the connections between the four sisters and their mother, are also at the heart of the film. It’s a coming-of-age, self-discovery, and identity evolution story, too. We discern that each daughter has transformed the course of the film: the two eldest have become radicalized pariahs who remain loved and missed by their family; the two youngest demonstrate greater independent thought and lifestyle choices that deviate from their mother as they mature; and Olfa appears to be reckoning with and taking responsibility for many of her mistakes while also refusing to accept culpability for others.

Additionally, the extent to which cultural and societal expectations influence individual decisions and family roles is explored. A major character in this narrative is Tunisia itself: the religious traditions of its people as well as the government’s role in shaping its society. And sexual politics, patriarchal values, and freedom of self-expression are put under the microscope, as well. The film tackles traditional gender roles, revealing the pressures these roles place on women and how the daughters resist and question these norms.

Similar works

  • Mustang
  • Inshallah a Boy
  • Films influenced by the revolutionary theatrical style of Bertolt Brecht, including Palindromes, The Arabian Nights Trilogy, Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story; Dogville; and Entranced Earth
  • Robert Green’s Procession and Bisbee ’17
  • May-December
  • Dick Johnson is Dead
  • The Rehearsal
  • Capturing the Friedmans

Other films directed by Kaouther Ben Hania

  • The Man Who Sold His Skin
  • Beauty and the Dogs
  • Le Challat de Tunis

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