La vida perra de Juanita Narboni (2005)

Director:

Farida Belyazid

Writers:

Ángel Vázquez (novel)
Gerardo Bellod (adaptation)

Release Date:

19 May 2006 (Spain)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel | Character Name In Title

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Mariola Fuentes	...	Juanita Narboni
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Nadia Alami	...	Alegría
Francisco Algora	...	Dedé
Annie Aubert	...	Mme. Maubert
Nabila Baraka	...	Esther
Dalal Barnoussi	...	Cantante teatro
Salima Benmoumen	...	Hamruch
Rachid Bentaher	...	Policá de civil 2
Nourdine Chakil	...	Pescadero viejo
Mariana Cordero	...	Sra. Narboni
Concha Cuetos	...	Bella
Maggie Deane	...	Miss Bentley
Lou Doillon	...	Helena Narboni
Abdelkader Dourkan	...	Dueno restaurante
Amal El Atrache	...	La loca
Saad El Fassi	...	León
Alexandra Fierro	...	Esperanza
Omar Gunnouni	...	Hijo de Cecilia
Fouad Hanafi	...	Policá de civil
Mohamed Issaoui	...	Pescadero joven
Mohamed Keloti	...	Portero cine
Mohamed Lamarti	...	Anciano del barrio
Esther Leblanc	...	Sra. Simi
Chete Lera	...	Sr. Narboni
Perla Levy	...	Madre de Esther
Bouchra Mahdi	...	Lalla Sodia
Victoria Mora	...	Madame Marinetti
Abdellah Mountassir	...	Idriss
Anna Blanca Mrabet	...	Dama del cementerio
Rosario Pardo	...	Mercedes
Helena Printis	...	Emili Keene
Abdelaziz Semlali	...	Anciano del jardin
Romina Sánchez Pérez	...	Carmen
Helena Tatum	...	Abuela Daisy
Imad Tazniti	...	Amigo de Rupert
Abdelkrim Zegmott	...	Niño del cementerio

Directed by
Farida Belyazid		(as Farida Benlyazid)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Gerardo Bellod		adaptation
Ángel Vázquez		novel

Produced by
Mar Villaespesa	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Jorge Arriagada

Cinematography by
José Luis Alcaine

Film Editing by
Pablo G. Plant

Art Direction by
Pepe Domínguez

Costume Design by
Aïda Diouri

Makeup Department
Zineb Bendoula	....	additional makeup artist
Montse Damas	....	assistant makeup artist
Mariló Osuna	....	makeup artist
Paco Rodríguez	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Mourad Ismaël	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ahmed Bouchaala	....	first assistant director
Luis Bértolo	....	second assistant director
Laurent Zinck	....	second assistant director

Art Department
David Muñoz	....	props
Juan Tena	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
José Luis Alcaine Bartolomé	....	supervising sound editor
Stéphane De Rocquigny	....	sound mixer
Javier Floriano	....	sound editor
Santiago Lorigados	....	sound editor
Sonoris	....	sound
José Tomé	....	sound editor
Aziz Zitouni	....	assistant sound mixer

Visual Effects by
Eduardo Barragán	....	digital artist
Juanjo Carretero	....	digital effects supervisor
Miguel Moreno	....	digital artist
Pablo Oliveira	....	digital artist

Camera and Electrical Department
Eva Díaz Iglesias	....	assistant camera
Brahim El Mazghi	....	gaffer (as Brahim Mazghi)
Abdellilah Laghrissi	....	electrician
Luca Luparini	....	camera operator
Haj Rifki	....	assistant camera
Aziz Zougar	....	electrician

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Zohra Aich	....	wardrobe
Kenza Bennani	....	costume assistant (as Kenza Benani)

Editorial Department
María Astilleros	....	assistant editor
Esperanza González	....	negative cutter
Antonio Álvarez	....	color timer

Music Department
Mohamed Naji	....	music mixer

Other crew
Alejandra de Celis	....	production assistant: Spain
Manolo Limón	....	production assistant
Stephanie Lopez	....	choreographer: dance
Sanae Mafaman	....	production secretary: Morocco
Beatriz Molinero	....	production secretary: Spain
Paco R. Baños	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Tingitania Films
• Zap Producciones S.L.

Other Companies

• Cinetel  electrical equipment
• Cornejo  costumes
• EPC  camera equipment

Also Known As:

"Juanita de Tanger" - France

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

Morocco | Spain

Language:

Arabic | Spanish | French | English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Tangiers, Tangier-Tétouan, Morocco

Company:

Tingitania Films

Movie Connections:

Remake of Vida/Perra (1982)

Interesting novel captured on film

Morocco is an interesting country--with a rich multi-cultural past that is somehow being overlooked by the predominant Muslim population. The cosmopolitan history of the city of Tangiers, before Morocco gained its independence, is captured in the 1976 novel by Angel Vasquez Juanita, which the director Farida Benliyazid courageously decided to adapt in this film.

There is a certain maturity that this film embodies--it is not often that directors pick up a subject centered on an anti-heroine. Directors prefer to deal with beautiful women, heroic and larger than life. Here is a quaint example of a lady director choosing to film a novel on the life of a "wretched woman," a spinster, and over-critical of life around her while coming to terms with political, social and pecuniary changes that affect her for the worse. Actress Mariola Fuentes, who plays the lead, interprets the unremarkable character with considerable restraint.

At the recent Dubai Film Festival, Ms Benliyazid stated to the audience that the subject of the film is very close to the present day Dubai--multi-cultural, multi-religious, and tolerant. The film does capture the incredible tolerance between Jews, Muslims, and Christians that must have existed in the past. I have been to Morocco twice this year, but this multi-cultural tolerance is not apparent today as the Morocco of the early 20th Century as has been portrayed in this film.

This is not a "wretched" film; it is merely a film on a "wretched" individual that will serve as a cultural memory for Moroccans of the current generation. I wish to compare this film to three Moroccan films made in the last two years that have won accolades around the world. Compared to Mohammad Asli's film "In Casablanca, angels don't fly" this film does not match it in any department. However, compared to Yassmine Kassari's "Sleeping child", Ms Benliyazid's film is more mature and even in quality (both films are made by women on women in Morocco) though the former won more awards at film festivals. While the subject of Ms Benliyazid's film may not be politically correct in some parts of the world to win awards, its underlying message is relevant for Morocco and the rest of the world!