The first film by Pakistani Saim Sadiq seals the love of a transsexual artist and a son of a family. He received the Queer Palm and the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
One of the most beautiful films we have seen this year, in the Un certain regard came to us from the Pakistan selection. A first, for this country which had never competed in Cannes before and finds itself today in the running for the Camera d’Or, with Joyland, a first feature film by Saim Sadiq, whose mastery and elegance both gripped and enchanted us. And this, on a subject freed from all its perils. Namely the question of gender, sexual identity – or even sexuality in general. A vast field that the young 31-year-old Pakistani filmmaker narrows between the highly symbolic walls of a house and the family it shelters. Which imposes itself, here, as the reflection of an entire society; and, more broadly still, of a country which, like so many others, remains deeply rooted in the patriarchal system.
In Lahore, in the family home where the sick old father, his two sons Saleem (Sohail Sameer) and Haider (Ali Junejo) live together, as well as their respective wives Nucci (Sarwat Gilani) and Mumtaz (Rasti Farooq), this system governs everyday life. He keeps everyone in the place and in the tasks assigned to them. Well almost. Because, as we have noticed, Haider, clumsy and reluctant to repair the home, does not quite meet the codes of virility expected of him. Worse, he has no job or child, unlike his brother who ticks all the boxes. The patriarch worries. We don’t mess with the rules.
Ask about your desires
This is how, yielding to the pressure, Haider ends up accepting a place as a dancer in a cabaret. To the family, he will say that he was taken on as manager. The lie will pass (at least for a time). Conversely, Haider cannot hide his lack of flexibility and talent for choreographic art. Fortunately, support will be offered to him in the person of Biba (Alina Khan), a transsexual artist with a strong personality who is trying to break into the profession and make a name for herself. Between them, a friendship is established, whose amorous shift takes place with subtlety and infinite grace. Qualities which, when applied as is the case here, to the script, the staging and the acting, become a sublime virtue.