In a whisper: a great, poignant and generous political film (review)

Tunisian director Leyla Bouzid takes on a taboo subject in her country – homosexuality – and paints a subtle portrait of a family damaged by the unsaid things it provokes.

In three feature films, Tunisian Leyla Bouzid has been able to draw a line that guides her cinema: the exploration of the way in which political and social events influence the intimate. And this without his films stuttering. So after A Story of Love and Desire, an erotic-sentimental game of cat and mouse where the audacity of the verb played a central role, In a Low Voice is based on the opposite. The silences, the inability to say the words to say what we feel. Lila, a thirty-year-old living in Paris, returns to Tunisia for her uncle’s funeral, accompanied by Alice, who we quickly understand from the way she hides that she is his partner.

And as soon as he arrives near his loved ones, behind the pain of mourning and the warmth of reunion, we perceive above all the amount of unsaid things. Until the sudden death of this uncle triggers a police investigation and brings his secrets to the surface, the revelation of which will have a domino effect on everything which can no longer remain under the carpet. This shameful and deadly homosexuality is still punishable by prison in Tunisia, at least when you are a man because the same situation between two women is not punished. As if it were even more inconceivable!

Leyla Bouzid recounts this word which, as best she can, is liberated with infinite writing finesse, starting with that of characters rich in contradictions. Lila (Eya Bouteera, a revelation), this girl, so close to her mother and who, however, could only confide that she shares her life with a woman to her father. Her mother Wahida (Hiam Abbass, imperial) who knew everything about her brother and protected him but struggles to accept her daughter’s homosexuality. Without an ounce of Manichaeism, In a Low Voice reveals itself to be a great, poignant and courageous political film.

By Leyla Bouzid. With Eya Bouteraa, Hiam Abbass, Marion Barbeau… Duration: 1h53. Released April 22, 2026