The Mother of All Lies: A Captivating Hybrid Documentary (review)

For her first feature film, Asmae El Moudir engages in a playful reconstruction of her childhood, an exorcism of painful generational traumas.

Documentary acclaimed at Cannes, The Mother of All Lies part of Asmae El Moudir’s desire to ask a question that has haunted her mind since she was little: why, for a very long time, were there no photos of her in her house? She then sets off in search of what her grandmother is hiding, the authoritarian matriarch at the origin of this ban on having photos of herself. In order to get answers, Asmae El Mudir confronts her loved ones with a model of her old neighborhood, filled with miniature houses and figurines. By drawing the contours of her childhood, she gradually illuminates the gray areas and brings about a cathartic return in time. A wildly creative format that allows him to break the silence, get to the heart of the lie, and unravel the secrets that have infested his family from the inside.

De-dramatize to obtain repair, gently. And as her reluctant grandmother opens up to her, Asmae El Moudir discovers, along with the viewer, that her personal tragedy might be more collective than she thinks. This initially intimate film transforms with great delicacy into a duty of memory and highlights a forgotten event in the history of Morocco: the bread riots of 1981. Through this reinvention of reality which mixes shapes and colors, the director heals wounds that were still raw until now and ends up warding off fate.

By Asmae El Moudir. Duration 1h37. Released February 28, 2024