The Harem of Madame Osmane

An off-beat comedy that takes an unconventional look at the problems of contemporary Algeria, writer-director Nadir Mokneche's debut feature is set in 1993 Algiers. As the country veers toward civil war, Madame Osmane (Spanish actress and former Almodóvar mainstay Carmen Maura) exercises a casual dictatorship over the tenants of her apartment building. A former freedom fighter whose husband -- also an ex-freedom fighter -- is living in France with another woman, Madame Osmane is determined to control the lives of her daughter Sakina (Linda Slimani), her batty maid, Meriem (Biyouna), young, French-born wife Yasmine (Myriam Amarouchene), and various other tenants. Over the course of the film, Madame Osmane manages to ruin Sakina's engagement to her biology teacher, Yasmine discovers that her husband has a second wife, and the women do their best to exist against a backdrop of political and cultural instability. Due to the dangerous political situation in Algeria, Le Harem de Mme Osmane was filmed in Morocco.~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide