La Nuit du verre d'eau

Lebanon, during the summer of 1958: three sisters from the Christian upper class are on holiday in the Lebanese mountains. The quiet life in the village is disrupted by the echoes of a revolution brewing in Beirut and by the arrival of two French holidaymakers. However, it is from inside the family itself that the real upheaval will originate. The eldest sister, Layla, a perfect wife and mother, will open her eyes to the patriarchal society which controls them. In the young Lebanon dreaming of a golden age, can a woman have a destiny other than the one predetermined for her by men? - 'In 1943, with the newfound independence of Lebanon, the yearning for modernity ran up against the walls of religious conservatism in this multi-denominational region of the world, which nonetheless lived in harmony. Everything was done to ensure that the situation would become tense and deteriorate, that this dream of a nation would not come true, that the population would be afraid of modernity and swear only by tradition. The Lebanon people dreamed of back then was an illusion.' Carlos Chahine