User Reviews

In 'Amra and the Second Marriage' Amra, a middle-aged Saudi housewife, has an existence which Westerners may imagine is the norm for Saudi women: she keeps house and cooks for her husband, looks after her sick mother, attends sermons that describe women as 'the firewood in Hell' and endures the constant barracking of her mother-in-law. Even her three daughters treat her like a drudge. But she is secure in her life, until her mother-in-law - always critical of Amra's failure to provide a son - announces she has arranged for Amra's husband to take a second - younger and more attractive - wife. When Amra does not attend the bridal shower, she is ostracised by her (female) friends, but does not let that stop her in her efforts to prevent the marriage.

My understanding of Saudi Arabia is that it is a very authoritarian country - particularly where women are concerned. Yet Amra seems to get away with an awful lot - even an incident involving her mother-in-law and a blowtorch seems not to result in legal sanction, as one might expect. Adding to the viewer's sense of dissatisfaction, some things in the film are unexplained - for instance, when Amra meets four bio-hazard suited men on the beach, are they a dream - or really there? And if the latter, what are they doing there anyway?

Aishaima'a Tayeb provides a likeable heroine, and there is a nice comic supporting turn from the actress (regrettably I do not know her name) who plays Amra's friend Sara, producing spells to stop the marriage. I will not reveal the ending, but it suggests that what Amra faces in the final scene is punishment for her actions in trying to maintain - even improve - her own situation. And that is disappointing.

I have been waiting for this film to be released for a while, being interested in stories that portray middle-aged women going through a mid life crisis.

Most of the reviews here are disappointed but I think it is helpful if we could dissect what could have been done better.

First of all, the lead, Alshaimaa Aayeb is a natural and has delivered a very believable performance. I could identify with her disappointments of society.

I wish all of the other characters have been as likable or relatable.

The film beginning could have introduced us into the characters world better, but her daughters were unlikable, the youngest daughter in particular seemed like she memorized her lines. There was no establishment of real human connections that make the audience want to invest, therefore the entire film has characters which are against the protagonist from the beginning and that never has a developing arc.

One of the interesting moments that was worth emphasizing in the film is the moment when the male daughter tells Amra's daughter to stay away from her widowed father. This, followed by Amra's dream sequence of riding the car with the widow was worth so much more exploration.

In fact, if the film has centered around this, a woman contemplating leaving her husband for the better option, it might have been more interesting.

Saadiya's performance has been very disappointing, it was all yelling, there was no reason to like her and in fact we had to lower the volume everytime she appeared on screen and honestly, her performance was very similar to that in Barakah Meets Barakah, all the yelling is not funny. It is annoying, and annoying stereotype of Hijazi women that is NOT done well.

If the director wanted to establish this as a "Stepford Wives" community, he should have established their weird absurdist world better. However, any absurd introductions have been non relevant non-sequiters.

For example, the opening scene, which is beautiful, serves as an orientalist painting of camels in addition to a prayer recited in a fashion similar to that on Saudi Airplanes. If Amra's relation to God is of central importance to the plot, it should be done in a smoother way.

By introducing us to a compound, yet making Amra act as a poor religious woman did not make sense, now did the women's market. Adding a few camels walking in the compound wasn't enough to establish the absurdist world.

The only supporting actresses that had better potential were the feminist group, Sanaa Baker Younis and Sarah Taibah. They only appeared very breifly but their talent could have been better invested. But overall that segment did not relate to the rest of the film and could have been better linked. Otherwise it seemed like another sequence in a series of sequences that did not strengthen the overall plot.

The moments with the sheikh and his branded content were interesting cinematically and concept wise. But it didn't beleivable fit into the poor/compound world.

Overall, the film could have done better if: 1. It established the absurdist world better 2. Invested more in better supporting actors. The majority of supporting actors, aside from the lead "Amra" were not likable or relatable at all.

3. Have been a bit more consistent. If it is absurdist, it should be absurdist all the way. Compound life + poor woman cooking + feminist + 90s sheikh did not mix, at least, not in the way it was presented in this film.

I hope my review is helpful as I sincerely wish the best for the future projects of this film team. It's a hard topic to tackle from a new angle but I applaud the attempt and hope to see better productions in the future.

I do appreciate that the director tried to push boundaries instead of remaining on safe territories, which is why I gave this rating to the film.