Director

Férid Boughedir

Cast list

Mustapha Adouani

Rabia Ben Abdallah

Mohammed Driss

Hélène Catzaras

Fatima Ben Saïdane

Abdelhamid Gayess

Jamel Sassi

Synopsis

The film tells the story of a young Noura, and his life in his hometown of Tunis. Noura is a young boy of twelve who takes advantage of the arousing opportunities to leer at women in his  mother's bathhouse. His family eventually hires a young female servant, and due to her interest in him Noura has his first sexual encounter. This coming of age story offers some fairly explicit scenes. Boughedir illustrates for the viewers the intricate relationships between women and their male counterparts in Tunisia.

Reviews

Denise Lancot, Movie Review : Exquisite 'Terraces' a Tale of Coming of Age in Tunis. Los Angeles Times (online newspaper)

Jerry White, Halfouine as both a Coming-of-age Film and a Subtle Portrait of Modern Tunisia. Philadelphia City Paper (online magazine)

Peter Stack, FILM REVIEW -Film Peeks Beneath the Veil / `Halfaouine' takes honest look at Muslim women. San Francisco Gate (online magazine)

Academic Articles
Giving a face to the conflict: Contemporary representations of women in Franco-North African film by Margaret C Flinn. International Journal of Francophone Studies, Vol. 15, No. 3, October 28, 2011 pp. 339-363.

Ideologies of the nation in Tunisian cinema by Kmar Kchir-Bendana. The Journal of North African Studies, Vol 8 (Mar. 2007) pp. 35-42 New Tunisian Cinema: Allegories of Resistance by Robert Lang. Columbia University Press, 2014 pp. 67-99

Masculinities, generations, and cultural transformation in contemporary Tunisian cinema by Martin Stollery. University of Oxford Press, Spring 2001. pp.49-63