The first trailer for festival darling You Resemble Me, which tells the true story of a woman named Hasna Ait Boulahcen who was falsely accused of being France’s first female suicide bomber, has just been released. The movie will explore Hasna’s life starting with childhood when she was separated from her sister on the outskirts of Paris. The film is the directorial debut of Dina Amer, who served as an associate producer on Ruben Östlund‘s The Square. Popular filmmakers Spike Lee, Spike Jonze, and Alma Har’el serve as executive producers on the film, alongside actor Riz Ahmed. Omar Mullick co-wrote the film’s script alongside Amer.
The trailer begins by showcasing the relationship between Hasna and her younger sister as they survive the streets on the outskirts of Paris. The sisters are inseparable and seem to escape into each other’s company when the reality of their lives gets too harsh, but all that is destroyed when they are picked up from the street and placed in different homes. Hasna grows up, desperate to try to find her own identity. Hasna also hides who she really is at work and in public, experimenting with different personas. The trailer’s suspense builds to high intensity by the end, indicating that this film will be a slow-burn character study that will end in catastrophe.
You Resemble Me stars Amer, Lorenza Grimaudo, Ilonna Grimaudo, Mouna Soualem, and Sabrina Ouazani. The film is also produced by Amer, as well as Elizabeth Woodward and Karim Amer. The film premiered at the 2021 Venice Film Festival and received mainly positive reactions. You Resemble Me‘s premiere was followed by a healthy festival run in which the film won several accolades.
Amer first got involved with the Hasna Ait Boulahcen case when she was a reporter for Vice News. After interviewing Hasna’s family and friends for 360 hours, Amer wrote the screenplay for You Resemble Me. Amer spoke to Variety about what the film means to her, saying, “Throughout my life I’ve lived through the shadow of how the failure to reconcile a Muslim Western identity with such clear contradictions can result in a haunting headline. This film is a journey through layers of disassociation, from the personal and familial to the religious and colonial; a kaleidoscope of splintered identities and fractured dreams.”
You Resemble Me will open on November 4 in New York City and November 11 in Los Angeles before expanding to more theaters. Check out the official trailer below:
Here’s the official synopsis for You Resemble Me.
“Cultural and intergenerational trauma erupt in this story about two sisters on the outskirts of Paris. After the siblings are torn apart, the eldest, Hasna, struggles to find her identity, leading to a choice that shocks the world. Director Dina Amer takes on one of the darkest issues of our time and deconstructs it in an intimate story about family, love, sisterhood, and belonging.”
