La Fiancée du Nil

A tragedy is playing out in a village in the Nile Delta. Heba loves Ahmed, to whom she has been engaged for three years. But one day, she finds herself betrothed to a stranger. Her uncle, who lives in France, returns and tries to intervene, violently slamming into a brick wall of tradition, family ambitions, rigid social conventions and a general air of resignation. Filmed in 2013 while Egypt was led by the Muslim Brotherhood, La Fiancée du Nil is a direct and wrenching descent into a personal tragedy experienced by so many young women today. Taking a stripped-down approach that proves to be both discreet and omniscient, both thoughtful and spontaneous, Edouard Mills-Affif reveals, behind the family drama, the deep confusion of an Egypt in crisis.