The Magic Box

2003 · Drama · 1h 28m

Tunisia today - Raouf, a well known filmmaker, is deeply unhappy about his disintegrating relationship with his French wife. She rejects the confinement in which she feels she's been prisoner for too long, far from her homeland. She's bitter and fed up and the atmosphere at home is tense. A European television channel commissions Raouf to make a film about the relationship between children and cinema. This leads him to make an intense and nostalgic reverie about his childhood spent in Kairouan. Torn between his oppressive father, an authoritarian and religious person unwilling to make any concessions, and his irresistible discovery of cinema, a universe of dreams and freedom, Raouf experiences his first emotions and desire for rebellion. He's supported and accompanied by his maternal uncle, Mansour, a roaming projectionist who lives in the town's brothel. He initiates young Raouf to the ways of love, to life.