Every year, countries outside the US decide on the film to submit for Best International Film. They only get one submission, so each country essentially makes its internal shortlist before making its selection, and this is before the Academy announces its shortlist from those submitted before nominations even come out. Sometimes, people are baffled by the film a country selects for their submission. Last year, France’s decision to submit The Taste of Things over Anatomy of a Fall came as a shock since Anatomy of Fall had won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and was expected to (and did) receive a Best Picture nomination (and won Best Original Screenplay), but by choosing The Taste of Things they were picking a gamble, because if it had received a nomination, it would have gotten an Oscar bump, one that Anatomy of a Fall was already going to receive, it was a risk, one that didn’t work but it was worthy gamble as the film did make the 15 film shortlist. Art is full of risks and those brave enough to take them; Everybody Loves Touda tells the story of such an artist and is Morocco’s entry for the 97th Academy Awards.
Everybody Loves Touda from writer/director Nabil Ayouch (and co-writer Maryam Touzani) tells the story of Touda (played by Nisrin Erradi), a singer with dreams of being a real Sheikha. In Morocco, a Sheikha is a respected traditional Moroccan performer empowered by the lyrics of the fierce female poets who came before her, or that is the origins. In modern practice, we see that Touda and others like her are not treated with respect. This is established in the musical sequence that begins the film. It starts with a joyous performance, but as the night goes on, you can see the turn and the edge of danger as the men begin to grab at Touda as she sings, culminating in her sexual assault. This is established early, and we see her fight against it throughout the film. And the film serves as a piece of media to continue the fight to gain these performers respect. There are many scenes where Touda flirts with men at the bars she performs at, encouraging them to drink and buy her drinks (where she gets a cut of the proceeds), while this may play into the idea of ill-repute of these performers, I saw it more as showing this is the world they are forced to navigate and they are making the best out of it, while still trying to fight for respect. This is shown in Touda arguing that they won’t water down the beers she gets these men to buy her, fighting for everything she’s earned.
Outside of fighting to be taken seriously as Sheikha, Touda is also fighting for her deaf son, who is being bullied in school. A school we discover won’t enroll him next year because he is deaf. The only school he could go to is Casablanca, but they won’t give a straight answer to her proxy on the phone; he is one of her big reasons for wanting to leave her town. The other is that she always heard in Casablanca Sheikhas are taken seriously.
Everybody Loves Touda relies heavily on the performance by Erradi, especially as people not from Morocco or those less familiar with music will probably not know much of the difference between pop songs and an Aita. But she is more than capable of expressing her emotions through her voice and the quieter moments with the actor who plays her son. Without spoiling it, the end of the film has a wonderful expressive moment, and while Erradi says the tear was the result of rain, even without the tear, I still would have gotten the joy and sadness she was feeling, having lived her dream but realized another.
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