Fatima, 17, the youngest of three daughters, treads carefully as she searches for her own path, grappling with emerging desires. However, there is also an aggressive streak to Fatima, which materializes when a fellow student calls her a lesbian. Starting university in Paris, she explores a whole new world. Inexperienced and unsure in her own ways, she seeks to find her sexual identity through online dating sites where she calls herself “Linda”, all the while confronting a timeless and heartrending dilemma: How can one stay true to oneself when reconciling different parts of one’s identity feels impossible?
"A heroine of North African descent, a practicing Muslim, living in the suburbs, attracted to women. In that environment, homosexuality is often told through a male perspective, not a feminine one. From my own experience, as a “girl from the projects” growing up in the northern neighbourhoods of Marseille, I’ve known characters like this. In the projects, it’s not easy to be different – and own it. Stereotypes are deeply rooted, and judgement reigns supreme. But this story can’t be reduced to one social type – it’s completely universal." (Hafsia Herzi)
Hafsia HerziBorn in Manosque, France, in 1987, to a Tunisian father and Algerian mother. She grew up in Marseille and landed her first role at 13 despite never having taken acting classes. Her big acting breakthrough came in 2005: Abdellatif Kechiche offered her the lead role in La Graine et le mulet (Couscous, 2007). In 2019, she made her directorial debut with You Deserve a Lover.