Summary
In the sun-drenched but socially rigid landscape of 1920s Tunisia, Yasmina, a princess of dual heritage, finds herself at the center of a collision between tradition and personal desire. Born to a French mother and a Muslim father, her identity is a bridge that her father attempts to burn by betrothing her to Afsen, a wealthy man thirty years her senior. What begins as a dutiful acceptance of her fate quickly devolves into a psychosomatic crisis; Yasmina is quite literally bored to the point of illness. The arrival of Hector Grandier, a French doctor and a ghost from her childhood, transforms her malaise into a forbidden passion. When their secret is unearthed, the resulting domestic explosion leads to a desperate act of self-mutilation by Yasmina, a false accusation of attempted murder against her husband, and a dramatic legal intervention. The film explores whether love can truly be 'free' when it is bought through the manipulation of the law and the erasure of a husband's rights.
Synopsis
Yasmina, a rich Tunisian Princess, daughter of a French lady and a Muslim gentleman, is betrothed by her father to a rich 50-year-old man named Afsen. She reluctantly accepts the marriage but soon becomes ill from boredom and falls in love with the French doctor called from Tunis to take care of her, Hector Grandier, who also happens to be a childhood friend. Her husband finds out and Yasmina sticks a knife in her own bosom in the middle of a fight. The Princess's maid Athima accuses the old husband of attempting to kill the girl and he is sentenced to death. Hector rescues him from his fate and the two lovers are free to love each other in the eyes of the law.
