The Baronesses

At sixteen, Fatima gets married and has to give up performing Shakespeare on stage. Forty-eight years later, she discovers that her husband has been leading a double life in Morocco: he has a "second wife" with whom he has had two sons. Devastated by this betrayal, she decides to fulfil her dream: she will stage Shakespeare and perform in it herself, with her friends, creating a theatre company called Les Baronnes. Her actions will have an impact not only on her family and neighbourhood, but on the whole country. The story is told by Najoua, a little girl with Down's syndrome, in a realistic yet fantastical style where offbeat humour embraces touching poetry. A powerful film, a dynamic and very funny comedy in which the multiculturalism of Molenbeek is displayed with a comforting vitality.