Four Daughters

Released Oct 27, 2023

1h 47m

Documentary

Drama

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Four Daughters: Trailer 1

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96%

Tomatometer

79 Reviews

86%

Audience Score

50+ Ratings

This riveting exploration of rebellion, memory, and sisterhood reconstructs the story of Olfa Hamrouni and her four daughters, unpacking a complex family history through intimate interviews and performance to examine how the Tunisian woman's two eldest were radicalized by Islamic extremists. Casting professional actresses as the missing daughters, along with acclaimed Egyptian-Tunisian actress Hend Sabri as Olfa, award-winning director Kaouther Ben Hania (The Man Who Sold His Skin) restages pivotal moments in the family's life. These scenes are interwoven with confessions and reflections from Olfa and her younger daughters, offering the women agency to tell their own story and capturing moments of joy, loss, violence, and heartache. Winner of four prizes including L'Oeil d'Or (Best Documentary) when it screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, Four Daughters is a compelling portrait of five women and a unique and ambitious work of nonfiction cinema that explores the nature of memory, the weight of inherited trauma, and the ties that bind mothers and daughters.

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Critics Consensus

Four Daughters' unique approach to documenting real-life horror is a formal gamble that only underscores the bravery and resilience of its subjects.

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Amy Nicholson

Washington Post

We see the power in tying together the fake and the real — the moment when method acting turns into method remembering.

Rated: 4/4

Mar 14, 2024

Full Review

Mark Kermode

Kermode and Mayo's Take (YouTube)

It's a kind of heartbreaking story of families being torn apart by hard-line religious dogma.

Mar 6, 2024

Full Review

Kevin Maher

Times (UK)

Admittedly during rehearsals some deeper biographical insights are gleaned, but they come at a cost to the film’s narrative and intellectual clarity.

Rated: 3/5

Mar 1, 2024

Full Review

Sarah Vincent

Sarah G Vincent Views

As Rahma and Ghofrane look for ways to rebel and embrace a morbid fundamentalism, Ben Hania’s film gradually transforms into a horror film, specifically demonic possession, but nothing supernatural is afoot. The only evil is a cycle of abuse

Mar 24, 2024

Full Review

Jane Freebury

Jane Freebury

A docudrama with a lovely way of blending real-life participants with actors, but its story of two teenage girls who escaped a disturbing and abusive homelife with their mother, is less successful in offering broader insight into why women joined IS

Rated: 3/5

Mar 17, 2024

Full Review

Hope Madden

The Screening Room Podcast

A compelling, touching story of memory and generational trauma, it’s a heartbreaking roadmap to radicalization marked with a family’s despair.

Rated: 4/5

Mar 15, 2024

Full Review

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FRANCISCA S

i thought it was boring and long and dreary- saw other Middle Eastern movies at the Palm Springs International Film Festival where it was also playing and found them all - Inshallah, a boy Bye bye Tiberias , Memories(?) all much more interesting

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/06/24

Full Review

John M

Fascinating story that you have unlikely seen before.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

04/23/24

Full Review

Vitoria F

Uma história para mim muito surpreendente. Eu jamais imaginaria que esse tipo de coisa estivesse acontecendo. Adolescentes criadas com hábitos ocidentais rebelando-se e escolhendo uma vida ultraconservadora que as leva a crimes terríveis... Depois fui pesquisar e descobri que o aliciamento está ocorrendo no mundo inteiro. Esse documentário é um importante alerta para famílias de adolescentes.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

04/07/24

Full Review

Jonathan K

Odd setup here with the mix of actors and the actual family, blending live interviews and reenactments. I'm not sure it works. It's a little meta, and on the plus side, in some ways it might actually help demonstrate some of the lived pain of the girls. There are some highly emotional scenes right from the get-go, and I definitely wasn't immune to sympathizing with what this family has gone through. But, was it just me or is this movie extraordinarily incriminating of the mom? She is pretty hard to like and seems easy to blame for contributing to her daughters' attraction to extremism, but regardless, it's not hard to connect with her pain and loss and regret. And maybe I'd connect even more with it all and have more understanding if I was a mother or a daughter. There definitely could be a big blind spot here for me in that regard. The mother-daughter dynamic happening in the midst of a lot of other poignant themes like abuse, religion, and conservatism. In the end, I thought there would be a bigger payoff, some bigger moments to finalize the story. And I think the material was there, but tone-wise it sort of builds to a plateau.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/12/24

Full Review

Megan e

Really impressive, impactful documentary! Using actors for the two missing sisters and subbing in actors for additional scenes, the documentary allows Olfa and her daughters to explain their story through words and scenes. Worth watching! 4 stars

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/07/24

Full Review

Monique Renee M

I only watched this movie because it was nominated for an Academy Award. The story was unbelievable, I saw a mother Olfa a bully as who someone wanted her two youngest daughters to actresses. The two older girls just wanted freedom from strict and abusive mother.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/05/24

Full Review

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Kaouther Ben Hania

Director

Hend Sabry

Olfa

Olfa Hamrouni

Self

Eya Chikahoui

Self

Tayssir Chikhaoui

Self

Nour Karoui

Actor

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Four Daughters: Trailer 1

2:08

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Synopsis

This riveting exploration of rebellion, memory, and sisterhood reconstructs the story of Olfa Hamrouni and her four daughters, unpacking a complex family history through intimate interviews and performance to examine how the Tunisian woman's two eldest were radicalized by Islamic extremists. Casting professional actresses as the missing daughters, along with acclaimed Egyptian-Tunisian actress Hend Sabri as Olfa, award-winning director Kaouther Ben Hania (The Man Who Sold His Skin) restages pivotal moments in the family's life. These scenes are interwoven with confessions and reflections from Olfa and her younger daughters, offering the women agency to tell their own story and capturing moments of joy, loss, violence, and heartache. Winner of four prizes including L'Oeil d'Or (Best Documentary) when it screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, Four Daughters is a compelling portrait of five women and a unique and ambitious work of nonfiction cinema that explores the nature of memory, the weight of inherited trauma, and the ties that bind mothers and daughters.

Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Producer: Nadim Cheikhrouha, Habib Attia, Thanassis Karathanos, Martin Hampel
Screenwriter: Kaouther Ben Hania
Distributor: Kino Lorber
Production Co: Red Sea Film Festival Foundation, Cinétéléfilms, Twenty Twenty Vision Filmproduktion, Tanit Films, ZDF/Arte, Jour2Fête
Genre: Documentary, Drama
Original Language: Arabic
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 27, 2023, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 19, 2023
Box Office (Gross USA): $135.7K
Runtime: 1h 47m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital

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