Layla M.

Layla M.
Film poster
Directed by	Mijke de Jong
Written by	Jan Eilander Mijke de Jong
Starring	Nora El Koussour
Cinematography	Danny Elsen
Edited by	Dorith Vinken
Distributed by	Cinemien
Release dates	10 September 2016 (2016-09-10)(TIFF) 17 November 2016 (2016-11-17)(Netherlands)
Running time	98 minutes
Country	Netherlands
Languages	Dutch Arabic English
Box office	~$266,000 [note 1]

Layla M. is a 2016 Dutch drama film directed by Mijke de Jong. It stars Nora El Koussour as Layla, a young Dutch woman of Moroccan background who rebels against her family and schooling to become an Islamic fundamentalist. As in other films by de Jong, the focus is on a strong-willed woman coming of age. In Layla M., de Jong and her collaborator Jan Eilander wanted to examine the radicalisation of European youngsters. The writers were inspired by a real life account; they wrote the script during the Arab Spring and the trial of Geert Wilders.

The film premiered at the BFI London Film Festival in 2016. The home media reviews were favourable and internationally the film was well-received. At the Netherlands Film Festival, El Koussour won the Golden Calf for Best Actress and Mohammed Azaay won the Golden Calf Award for Best Supporting Actor. The film was selected as the Dutch entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards.

Plot

Layla M. is a young Dutch Muslim of Moroccan background. She was born and raised in Amsterdam, where the film begins. On the street and at school, she faces Islamophobia and racism. Whilst her mother and father are happily assimilated into Dutch culture, Layla starts to rebel and to move toward Islamic fundamentalism. She begins to watch and circulate short films she finds on the internet about the oppression of Muslims in Syria and Gaza, then decides to make a film herself, a decision which angers her parents. When a ban on wearing burqas is made, this only strengthens her resolve to wear one, even though the decision drives her away from friends at school including her best friend Meryem. After she is arrested with her brother Younes at a football match, she argues with her family. She disagrees with her father on how to interpret the teachings of the Quran and is disappointed by her brother's decision to shave off his beard.

Layla then falls in love with a young radical called Abdel who talks to her on Skype about their shared political beliefs. She decides to marry him in secret. They go to a jihadist training camp in Belgium and narrowly evade being arrested by the police, before relocating together to Amman, the capital city of Jordan. When she lives abroad in a different culture, Layla's political radicalism is tested as she struggles to adjust to a patriarchal society in which she is excluded from Abdel's meetings with other men, having been accustomed to gender equality in the Netherlands. She begins to see the hypocrisy of extremism and again becomes dissatisfied with her life. The film ends with her being interviewed by the Dutch intelligence service (AIVD) upon her return home.

Cast

• Nora El Koussour as Layla
• Ilias Addab as Abdel
• Hassan Akkouch as Zine
• Yasemin Cetinkaya as Oum Osama, Layla's neighbor in Jordan
• Husam Chadat as Sheikh Abdullah Al Sabin
• Mohammed Azaay as Layla's father
• Esma Abouzahra as Layla's mother
• Bilal Wahib as Younes, Layla's brother
• Ayisha Siddiqi as Meryem, Layla's best friend
• Sachli Gholamalizad as Senna, the aid worker for the refugee camp

Production

Mijke de Jong previously focused upon strong young female characters in films such as Bluebird , Katia's Sister and Joy . ^[3] In the early 2010s, the radicalisation of European youngsters into Islamic fundamentalists led to around 3000 people (of which 550 were women) travelling to the Middle East to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS). A total of around 220 people travelled from the Netherlands to Iraq and Syria, of which almost half were Moroccan-Dutch. ^[4] De Jong intended to write a script based on her own youthful experiences in the Dutch squatters movement until she met a Dutch woman who had converted to Islam and married a man who had then undergone a radicalisation process. The young couple would sometimes visit Morocco, and on their final trip, the man disappeared for several weeks, returning as an Islamic militant who had shaved his beard off in preparation for a suicide bombing. The woman divorced her husband and never heard from him again. Her story captivated de Jong, and she and co-writer Jan Eilander instead wrote a new script. ^[5] At the time of writing, the Arab Spring was underway and in the Netherlands, Geert Wilders was on trial for inciting hatred against Dutch Moroccans. ^{[5] [6]} De Jong has commented that "for me, the film isn’t so much about showing a radicalization process, but about a girl with a radical personality." ^[7]

Casting director Rebecca van Unen suggested Nora El Koussour to play the main role. El Koussour had recently graduated from a theatre school in Rotterdam. When she enjoyed singing a nasheed with Ilias Addab, de Jong was happy with the chemistry between the actors and decided to cast her. ^[7] Layla M. was shot completely on location, in Belgium, Germany, Jordan and the Netherlands, and co-produced by these four countries. ^[5] The original plan had been to film in Syria, but the outbreak of the Syrian civil war meant that production switched to Jordan. ^[7] Layla M. was acquired by BetaFilms for international distribution before its screening at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2016 and premiered in Europe the following month at the BFI London Film Festival. ^[8] The film had a cinematic release in the Netherlands on 17 November 2016, grossing $71,804 on its opening weekend and around $266,000 worldwide thereafter. ^{[note 1]} It was released on DVD and Video on demand (VOD) on 27 March 2017. ^[9]

Reception

Critical response

The Dutch media was enthusiastic about Layla M.. The Algemeen Dagblad called it an "important" story and gave it four stars out of five, whilst De Telegraaf (also four stars) praised El Koussour's talent. ^[10] The international reviews of the film were generally favourable. As of August 2024, Layla M. had an approval rating of 100 per cent on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 10 reviews, and an average rating of 77 per cent. ^[11] Variety noted that the film came at a time when Islamophobia was on the rise in Western Europe and wrote that "El Koussour and Addab share a gentle chemistry that curdles into romantic tragedy". ^[12] Screen Daily observed an "intelligent approach to complex matters", highlighting the cinematography of Danny Elsen and El Koussour's star performance. ^[13] The New York Times found it a "persuasive case study" of radicalisation. ^[14] The Hollywood Reporter criticised aspects of the film such as the narrative and the development of supporting roles, whilst also praising its topicality and the location work in Jordan. ^[15]

Accolades

Layla M. was selected as the Dutch entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards. It was also nominated for four Golden Calves. ^[16] Nora El Koussour won the Golden Calf for Best Actress and Mohammed Azaay won the Golden Calf Award for Best Supporting Actor. ^{[17] [18]} El Koussour also won the Special Jury prize for outstanding performance at Philadelphia Film Festival. ^[19] At Filmfest München it won the Fritz Gerlich Prize. ^[20]

See also

• List of submissions to the 90th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
• List of Dutch submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

Notes

1. Box Office Mojo gives the gross as $266,010 and The Numbers gives a slightly different figure of $265,505 ^{[1] [2]}

References

1. "Layla M." Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 12 April 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
2. "Layla M." The Numbers. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
3. Bockting, Berend Jan (17 November 2016). "Layla M. zoekt het hartverscheurende verhaal achter de krantenkop". de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 15 October 2019. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
4. Bartels, E.A.C.; Brouwer, L.A. (2017). "Layla M.: a film about the radicalisation of a Moroccan Dutch girl. Women's voices from Amsterdam West and the VU University". In Sadiqi, Fatima; Reifeld, Helmut (eds.). Women and resistance to radicalisation. Rabat: Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. pp. 137–155. ISBN   978-9954-99-911-0.
5. Bowen, Shannon L. (12 January 2017). "Oscars: A Female Muslim Teen Becomes Radicalized in the Netherlands' 'Layla M.'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 12 April 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
6. "Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders goes on trial for inciting hatred". The Guardian. Reuters. 18 March 2016. Archived from the original on 21 June 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
7. Levine, Sydney (7 December 2017). "Oscar Entry from The Netherlands, 'Layla M', an Interview with Writer-Director Mijke de Jong". Medium. Archived from the original on 4 November 2023. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
8. Grater, Tom. "Toronto: Beta Cinema lineup includes Mijke de Jong drama". Screen Daily. Archived from the original on 12 April 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
9. Los, Wouter. "Layla M. (2016), een film van Mijke de Jong met Nora El Koussour, Ilias Addab - Cinemagazine". cinemagazine.nl. Archived from the original on 12 April 2020. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
10. "Layla M." Cinemien (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 12 April 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
11. "Layla M." www.rottentomatoes.com. Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 20 June 2023. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
12. Tobias, Scott (9 September 2016). "Film Review: 'Layla M.'". Variety. Archived from the original on 26 November 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
13. Hunter, Allan (10 September 2016). "'Layla M': Toronto Review". Screen Daily. Archived from the original on 26 November 2017. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
14. Vineyard, Jennifer (2016). "Layla M." The New York Times. Archived from the original on 4 April 2018. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
15. van Hoeij, Boyd (27 September 2016). "'Layla M.': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 15 July 2019. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
16. Keslassy, Elsa (5 September 2017). "Mijke de Jong's 'Layla M.' Is Dutch Entry in Foreign-Language Oscar Race". Variety. Archived from the original on 5 September 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
17. "Beste Actrice ⋆ Nederlands Film Festival". Nederlands Film Festival (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 1 June 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
18. "Beste Mannelijke Bijrol ⋆ Nederlands Film Festival". Nederlands Film Festival (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 1 June 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
19. "Film Festival 25". Philadelphia Film Society. Archived from the original on 12 April 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
20. "Film over Amsterdamse Layla M. wint mensenrechtenprijs". Het Parool (in Dutch). ANP/Het Parool. 29 June 2017. Archived from the original on 12 April 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2020.

External links

• Layla M. at IMDb