Described as "an insult to all Moroccan women", the drama focuses on the lives of three prostitutes in Marrakech. It was a big hit at this year's Munich Filmfest.
By Susan Vahabzadeh. When night falls in Marrakech, the city belongs to Noha, Soukaina and Randa. At least, they behave as if it does, this brash trio whose conversations are punctuated with sufficient vulgarity to turn the air several shades of blue. They talk about their bodies and the job, which of course are one and the same topic, and sometimes even their driver, Said, who chauffeurs them through the streets of Marrakech, from one party to the next, from hotel to hotel, and finally home just as the grey light of dawn is breaking, finds it all a little too much.
The brassy self-confidence of the three heroines of "Much Loved", it turns out, is nothing more than a front, armour behind which to hide their true vulnerability. While the three women are prostitutes, Said's role, is less obvious; we are left wondering whether he is merely some sort of good-natured protector-bodyguard or whether he is in fact their pimp after all.
Moroccan film director Nabil Ayouch allows us to closely observe the struggles of the three women to get by, showing us how they pick themselves up after being thoroughly degraded by their clients mostly hypocritical Saudis, occasionally patronising Europeans , how they manage to hold on to their dignity in spite of the feigned lust and violence that is their daily lot, and how they create a little space for themselves where they can still dream of getting married, of being cared for and looked after.
The bond that the trio shares is as moving as their pragmatism. Ayouch shows very clearly what the consequences are when women are always falsified, unreal: sinner or saint. It becomes very clear just how much almost all of the men with whom Noha, Randa and Soukaina are involved despise them: they are alive but they are whores.
