Washington Post by Ann Hornaday
Clara Khoury delivers a performance that is luminous, fierce and intensely focused as the title character of Rana's Wedding.
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Palestine, Netherlands, United Arab Emirates · 2003
1h 30m
Director Hany Abu-Assad
Starring Khalifa Natour, Clara Khoury, Ismael Dabbag, Walid Abed Elsalam
Genre Comedy, Drama, Romance
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A Palestinian girl of 17 who wants to get married to the man of her own choosing. Rana wakes up one morning to an ultimatum delivered by her father: she must either choose a husband from a preselected list of men, or she must leave Palestine for Egypt with her father by 4:00 that afternoon.
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Washington Post by Ann Hornaday
Clara Khoury delivers a performance that is luminous, fierce and intensely focused as the title character of Rana's Wedding.
Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt
Excellent acting, and a plot that combines suspense, whimsy, and political resonance make this Palestinian comedy-drama an unusual treat.
Though shot from the Palestinian P.O.V., the Dutch/Palestinian Film Foundation co-production is remarkably balanced, offering a convinced message of hope for the future.
Khoury may be a few years too old to play a minor still squirming under her father's thumb, but her performance as a timid young woman who finds strength while looking for a husband is quite affecting.
Village Voice by Michael Atkinson
It's tempting to read Abu-Assad's view of his ostentatiously wealthy heroine and her debutante narcissism as satirical of a certain cross-section of modernized Palestinians amid the occupation, but the placid, earnest way her dilemma takes up emotional space in his film suggests half-bakery.
Washington Post by Michael O'Sullivan
Both wry and sobering, if such a thing is possible. In Jerusalem, apparently, it's inevitable.
Among the finest films made in the Middle East. This small, subtle gem offers a vivid portrait of life in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, presenting its message with an intelligence and vibrancy that celebrates the human spirit in an environment where humanity is routinely crushed and assaulted.
Agreeably soft at heart, a fun and progressive entertainment that above all wants to give love a wide berth, no matter what imposing obstacles have to be cleared from the aisle first.
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
Ms. Khoury, often filmed in close-up, gives a deeply sensitive, unsentimental performance, and the feelings that crowd on her face (sometimes more than one at a time) run the gamut from despair to ambivalence to hysterical frustration to tenderness and joy.
This black comedy is a small gem.
Liar liar, love's on fire.
Observe or be observed.
Two sights: an Echo