What memory serves is often open to debate in “Four Daughters,” a meta-documentary from Tunisia that explores the lives of a broken family whose two oldest teenage daughters fled in 2015 to join the Islamic State in Libya. The film, directed by Kaouther Ben Hania, features both its real-life participants (Olfa Hamrouni and her two remaining daughters, Eya and Tayssir Chikhaoui) and professional actors, doubles for the missing Ghofrane and Rahma, as well as a double for Olfa (played by Tunisian and Egyptian movie star Hend Sabry) and an actor single to play the abusive men in her life.
The release of Kino Lorber, nominated for an Academy Award for his documentary, did not originate as an emotional hall of mirrors. Ben Hania took a more conventional approach in 2016, when he first came into contact with Hamrouni, who appeared widely in the news in angry protest against the radicalization and disappearance of her daughters. The filmmaker intended to convey a deeper perspective than the superficial coverage she saw. But she had problems with the form.
“I quickly felt that it wouldn't show the molecular aspect of this complex story,” Ben Hania said. “I got lost along the way. “I wasn’t happy with what I filmed.” He moved on to a different project, the fictional drama “The Man Who Sold His Skin,” nominated for the International Feature Film Oscar in 2021. The recognition brought new opportunities, but Ben Hania returned to work on “Four Daughters,” a perspective that further complicated by the pandemic.
This time, she took a conceptual risk and created the film from a series of recreations of crucial, often heartbreaking moments in the lives of the mother and her daughters.
“I don't like reenactment because to me it's a big cliché,” Ben Hania said. “But at the same time I'm not afraid of clichés. I love hijacking clichés. Maybe I can use this to summon this past, but also with the help of the actors I can question this past. We can all, as in Brechtian theatre, be on stage. [and] at the same time outside the scene, and take a very introspective journey.”
The director organized the filming as a series of scenes that become a running commentary on family, trauma, the conflicting roles these women play in their traditional society, and the volatile relationship between mother and daughters.
“We filmed one memory per day, with the real character to tell the story of his particular memory and then recreate it with the actors,” explained the filmmaker. Sometimes we start with one memory and end with another. I never knew where this process would lead since it is a documentary. I was the first audience for my own movie, which is great.”
Ben Hania was lucky to have such charismatic women in front of his camera. “They have an innate talent for telling stories, even in very difficult moments, infusing them with humor,” said producer Nadim Cheikhrouha. “In addition, they had undergone therapy and were prepared for the process. Kaouther, who maintained regular contact with them, had also established a relationship of trust.”
From left to right, Ichraq Matar, Nour Karoui, Olfa Hamrouni, Tayssir Chikhaoui and Eya Chikhaoui in the film “Four Daughters.”
(Kino Lorber)
The filmmaker created a set in an old hotel in the Medina of Tunisia. “It was called the Eiffel Tower. [as] “It was built at the same time as the Eiffel Tower in Paris,” he said. The vibrant blue walls, which dominate the film's visual palette, suggested to Ben Hania the interior of middle-class and low-income housing in Tunisia. For this project, the director reduced her filming equipment to a minimum. “I tried to have a lot of women on the team,” she said. “We wrote together a kind of contract to avoid all the toxic behaviors that we may have on a set, to create a safe space. It was really a very empathetic shoot.”
That helped foster on-set bonding between real and surrogate family members.
“Quickly, the actresses, especially the two who played the eldest daughters, became part of Olfa's family, and there was a kind of magical sisterhood between the girls,” the filmmaker said. “That exceeded my expectations.”
Ben Hania, who cites the late Iranian master Abbas Kiarostami and his 1990 metafiction film “Close-Up” as a formative spark for his career, also found a way to more powerfully convey the emotional tone of on-screen conversations. “For the interviews I wanted them to look directly at the camera and not, as always happens in documentaries, at the person next to the camera,” he said. “I want the public to look them in the eyes. “I wanted to share their humor, their resilience, all those things they felt all those years.”
