A pregnant woman’s journey becomes a surreal exploration of class, gender and spiritual transformation in Sofia Alaoui’s striking debut

This film’s tagline tells only half the story: “A young pregnant woman finds emancipation as aliens land in Morocco.” Or possibly it suggests the wrong sort of story, like we’re in for a Roland Emmerich doomsday extravaganza or some high-concept M Night Shyamalan-style shenanigans. Instead, Moroccan film-maker Sofia Alaoui’s debut begins as insightful, sharply observed commentary on class and gender in her home country. The young pregnant woman of the tagline is Itto (Oumaïma Barid), who lives with her husband and his parents in palatial marble-and-gold luxury.

But Itto was not born into wealth: she is from a poor rural family, a fact that her stuck-up mother-in-law (Souad Khouyi) won’t let her forget. Itto is at home alone when a meteorological event hits, a flood that brings out the army in trucks. A neighbour is paid to drive her to the city where her husband and his family are stranded, but the neighbour abandons her in a village. Extremely pregnant and alone, Itto is vulnerabile which makes her fierce, conveyed by the intensity of Barid’s captivating performance. We’ve seen Itto being passive or sulky at home, but suddenly her face has the determination of an Olympic sprinter running towards the finish line.

A pregnant woman’s journey becomes a surreal exploration of class, gender and spiritual transformation in Sofia Alaoui’s striking debut

This film’s tagline tells only half the story: “A young pregnant woman finds emancipation as aliens land in Morocco.” Or possibly it suggests the wrong sort of story, like we’re in for a Roland Emmerich doomsday extravaganza or some high-concept M Night Shyamalan-style shenanigans. Instead, Moroccan film-maker Sofia Alaoui’s debut begins as insightful, sharply observed commentary on class and gender in her home country. The young pregnant woman of the tagline is Itto (Oumaïma Barid), who lives with her husband and his parents in palatial marble-and-gold luxury.

But Itto was not born into wealth: she is from a poor rural family, a fact that her stuck-up mother-in-law (Souad Khouyi) won’t let her forget. Itto is at home alone when a meteorological event hits, a flood that brings out the army in trucks. A neighbour is paid to drive her to the city where her husband and his family are stranded, but the neighbour abandons her in a village. Extremely pregnant and alone, Itto is vulnerabile which makes her fierce, conveyed by the intensity of Barid’s captivating performance. We’ve seen Itto being passive or sulky at home, but suddenly her face has the determination of an Olympic sprinter running towards the finish line.

A pregnant woman’s journey becomes a surreal exploration of class, gender and spiritual transformation in Sofia Alaoui’s striking debut

This film’s tagline tells only half the story: “A young pregnant woman finds emancipation as aliens land in Morocco.” Or possibly it suggests the wrong sort of story, like we’re in for a Roland Emmerich doomsday extravaganza or some high-concept M Night Shyamalan-style shenanigans. Instead, Moroccan film-maker Sofia Alaoui’s debut begins as insightful, sharply observed commentary on class and gender in her home country. The young pregnant woman of the tagline is Itto (Oumaïma Barid), who lives with her husband and his parents in palatial marble-and-gold luxury.

But Itto was not born into wealth: she is from a poor rural family, a fact that her stuck-up mother-in-law (Souad Khouyi) won’t let her forget. Itto is at home alone when a meteorological event hits, a flood that brings out the army in trucks. A neighbour is paid to drive her to the city where her husband and his family are stranded, but the neighbour abandons her in a village. Extremely pregnant and alone, Itto is vulnerabile which makes her fierce, conveyed by the intensity of Barid’s captivating performance. We’ve seen Itto being passive or sulky at home, but suddenly her face has the determination of an Olympic sprinter running towards the finish line.