Origine contrôlée is a 2001 French

Cinema of France

The Cinema of France comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad.France is the birthplace of cinema and was responsible for many of its early significant contributions. Several important cinematic movements, including the Nouvelle...

 comedy

Comedy film

Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

-drama film

Drama film

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 starring Ronit Elkabetz

Ronit Elkabetz

Ronit Elkabetz is an Israeli actress and filmmaker. She works in both Israeli and French cinema. She has won three Ophir Awards and has received a total of seven nominations.- Biography :...

. It is also the debut French-language picture to star Elkabetz, famous for Hebrew-language roles in her native Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

. Elkabetz acquired French fluency after moving to France in 1997. The film was written and directed by Ahmed Bouchaala and Zakia Tahri. It was awarded the Le Roger Award for Best French Feature by the Avignon & New York Film Festival

Avignon Film Festival

Avignon Film Festival is also known as the Rencontres Cinématographiques Franco-Américain d'Avignon. The festival used to be called the French/American Film Workshop.The festival took place in Avignon, France every year and was devoted to promoting Film...

.

Plot synopsis

A bouregeois white man (Ligardes) finds himself the victim of mistaken identity when he dresses up in drag yet is mistaken by authorities for a criminal Algerian transsexual. During his overnight stay in jail he meets two strangers, a beur

Beur

Beur is a colloquial term to designate French-born people whose parents are immigrants from North Africa. The word was coined by reversing the syllables of the word arabe, which means Arabic or Arab in French. For example, "arabe" becomes "a-ra-beu" then "beu-ra-a" and "beur" by contraction. The...

, Youssef (Kelif) and Sophia (Elkabetz), a woman seeking a sex-change operation. The eclectic trio embark on a hedonistic tour through Paris and the surrounding countryside, amidst the frivolities,and problems such as the immigration authorities and the police presence.

Casting

Elkabetz was cast in the starring role after directors Bouchaala and Tahri attended the closing night of her one-woman show in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 playing Martha Graham

Martha Graham

Martha Graham was an American modern dancer and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence Picasso had on modern visual arts, Stravinsky had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture.She danced and choreographed for over seventy years...

.

Cast

• Ronit Elkabetz
  Ronit Elkabetz
  Ronit Elkabetz is an Israeli actress and filmmaker. She works in both Israeli and French cinema. She has won three Ophir Awards and has received a total of seven nominations.- Biography :...
  
   as Sonia
• Atmen Kalif as Youssef
• Isabelle Sadoyan
  Isabelle Sadoyan
  Isabelle Sadoyan is a French actress. She was the wife of actor Jean Bouise. Her filmography includes films by Jeanne Moreau, Claude Chabrol, Claude Lelouch, Luc Besson, Jean-Luc Godard, Henri Verneuil, Bertrand Tavernier, Robert Kechichian and Krzysztof Kieślowski.-Filmography:* 1969 : Les...
  
  as Aunt
• Patrick Ligardes as Patrick
• El Kebir as Lamine
• Alexia Stresi as Marie
• Françoise Lépine as Inspector
• Jean-Luc Porraz as The Lawyer

External links

• Trailer