Feminism, traditions, clash of cultures .. Our interview of the wedding heroine, Lina El Arabi

Lina El Araba is now playing the movie Noces, a poignant feature film. Discover our exclusive interview.
This is our favorite movie of the week and we really advise you to go and discover it. Noces, whose criticism is on melty , is out today in the dark rooms and plunges us into the story of Zahira, a girl raised in the Pakistani family in a western country. She goes out, lives her first love and enjoys her friends until the day when her parents announce it is time for her to marry … with a man she has never seen. We met Lina El Arabi who lends her traits to the heroine of the film and the latter confided in all frankness!

Can you tell us your story, tell us how you got to the movie Noces?
Lina El Arabi : I am 21 years old, I am a student in 3rd year of journalism. I started very early in the conservatory where I learned violin and classical dance and I do not know if that’s what led me to the theater, but I’ve always been artistically open enough. I have been casting since I was 10 years old, at the beginning without an agent, which is quite complicated because you do not have an agent until you have worked and you can not work until you ‘ Have no agent. I eventually met mine at the age of 15 and agreed at once that I did not need to be very known to choose my roles. I decided, at my humble level, to choose my projects which means that I do not run the casting.
You can tell us about Zahira, your character in Wedding, do you feel close to her ?
I feel close to her because we are the same age, we have origins other than French and we grew up in a western country, but when I see the people coming out of the room after seeing the Film I have the impression that one does not have to be his age, to be a girl and to have foreign origins to recognize himself in Zahira, I think that it is a character that touches everyone . But yes, I feel close to her because she has a good character, she knows where she goes and what she wants.
It’s your first role in the cinema and you are tackling serious subjects like forced marriage, tradition, honor … Did not it scare you?
No, I think that cinema is a reflection of the society in which we live and that it has an enormous impact on people and their way of thinking. I am a politically and socially engaged person so it is not really surprising that I make films that are themselves committed.
What was your first reaction after completing the Honeymoon scenario?
I cried like a big shit (…). When I read the script I burst into tears, I gave it to my mother who cried, to my brother who cried … I made everyone cry. The script was so well written, we did not even change a line. I was really very moved and stressed to tell myself that I really had to be up to Zahira.
In Honeymoon we discover a young girl who lives with her time in the Western world and as soon as she returns home, she finds herself in a very traditional family where the way of life changes completely, with much less freedoms. How did you experience it as a committed young woman, at a time when feminism is at the heart of the discussions?
I am very annoyed by all the girls who say that they are not feminists, one can be just by being a woman and by pushing gules when it is necessary to push (…). Sexism and discrimination start very early, I fight against it, it begins as soon as we meet you and the first thing we say about you is not that you are gifted in what you do, but That you are “very pretty”. Sexism is reducing you to your uterus. Noces is part of it, because it is a heroine who rebels against traditions that are imposed on women. She is aware of the traditions respected by her family, she did not say anything when it happened to her sister, but she does not agree when it happens to her.
The relationship between Zahira and his brother Amir is very intense, how was it on the shoot between you and Sebastien Houbani?
Sebastien Houbani is for me one of the most gifted actors of his generation and today he really became my brother. I was very lucky to work with him because I was the last to join the team and it was stressful enough to tell me that I would have to create a trusting relationship in a week Did not know. But I met someone really caring, thinking of others before thinking of him, he really made me work. It also happens that I have a big brother of 25 years of whom I am very close, one loves to madness and one has the same complicity. The scenario echoed this relationship that I have with my brother, maybe that also made me cry.
The most important scene of the film for you is which one?
The scene between Zahira’s father and her best friend. This is really where we understand the clash of traditions, cultures. We have the father of Zahira who wants to marry his daughter by force and who refuses to let people outside tangle and the father of his best friend who does not share the same traditions, who does not understand his reaction, how he can impose that to his daughter. He tells her the stupid phrase, which, at the same time, best represents the situation “But she is of age” , to which Zahira’s father answers “And then?” . Then this moment when he compares the women married by force with the unmarried women who for him are not happy … We are in a dialogue of the deaf where no one understands … It is hyper strong because with Noces, We do not ask you to say ” forced marriage is great” or “forced marriage is shit” , we are just asking you to say “ok forced marriage is not in my philosophy of Life, that’s not how I see things, but I can open up and try to understand . ” He makes us think.
What did you learn from your experience of filming Honeymoon?
A lot of things since it was my first film role, I learned all I know about cinema today. I learned the relationship with the other actors, what it is to have an actor in front who really gives everything. That it is not only the actors and the director who make a film, that there is a whole team behind and they are only passionate people who all want to make a good film. We really become a family when we meet for 1 month … There is such a respect between the technical teams and the actors on a shoot.
See you in the dark rooms today to discover Noces, our favorite movie of the month of February .