Divines

Name: Divines
Genre: Drama, Crime
Released: November 18, 2016
Duration: 105 min
Rating: 71

2016

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 18 Ratings

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7.0	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 18 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Netflix | Release Date (Streaming): November 18, 2016 | Not Rated

Summary: In a suburb where trafficking and religion run side by side, Dounia is eager for power and success. Supported by Maimouna, her best friend, she decides to follow in the footsteps of Rebecca, a respected dealer. But when Dounia meets Djigui, a young sensuous dancer, her daily life is disrupted.

Director: Uda Benyamina

Genre(s): Drama, Crime

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 105 min

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Critic Reviews

MTV News Amy Nicholson

Nov 27, 2016

It's thrillingly, fiercely female. It takes the same neighborhood-boy-turns-hoodlum story we've seen for a century and simply flips the script. Read full review

Mike D'Angelo

Nov 16, 2016

Divines, written and directed by French-Moroccan filmmaker Houda Benyamina, rivals "Girlhood" as a portrait of combustible banlieue femininity, emanating raw energy and scrappy good humor even as it builds to an unexpectedly tragic and horrifying finale. Read full review

Catherine Bray

May 22, 2016

In her aces debut feature Divines, Houda Benyamina has what ought to be a career-making film on her hands. Read full review

The Guardian Peter Bradshaw

Nov 17, 2016

Maybe the final five minutes are a little too over the top, but the overwhelming impression is that Dounia has ambition and vision, a conviction that she might still be able shape her own future. It’s an exhilarating film. Read full review

IndieWire David Ehrlich

Nov 17, 2016

This is no simple story of girl power. In fact, it’s arguably less concerned with feminism than it is with the financial realities that impede it from taking root. Read full review

Jordan Mintzer

May 22, 2016

Benyamina has a hard time maintaining her film's pace and plausibility, especially during a third act that slides too far into genre territory and its accompanying clichés. Read full review

The Playlist Kevin Jagernauth

Nov 17, 2016

Benyamina displays an empathetic and insightful view of young women, and the challenges of growing up, even if the screenplay doesn’t always follow through. But what Divines absolutely gets right is the deep longing and hunger young people have to better their circumstances, and the desperate lengths they’ll go to reach those goals. Read full review

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User Reviews

risonyeong

May 16, 2021

would seem like a teenager movie, coming of age, with much drug and sex. but this was a gritty alternative look at migrant society dilemma. coming to a host country becomes a conundrum that they cant escape from as they could not integrate into host country.
so there exist an illegalwould seem like a teenager movie, coming of age, with much drug and sex. but this was a gritty alternative look at migrant society dilemma. coming to a host country becomes a conundrum that they cant escape from as they could not integrate into host country.
so there exist an illegal microcosm for them to thrive and in the end all vices ends in tragedy and heartbreak. coming from a teenager viewpt made the whole film very raw and their innocence highlighted the pain even more.
have an open mind. watch it till the end… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

DawdlingPoet

Nov 27, 2021

This film seemed a bit lacking in overall plot direction to me. The two main characters are interesting and I'd say its about people in poverty trying to dream their way out of it - teenagers hanging around their local area, trying to show people up and generally cause mayhem. Its also aboutThis film seemed a bit lacking in overall plot direction to me. The two main characters are interesting and I'd say its about people in poverty trying to dream their way out of it - teenagers hanging around their local area, trying to show people up and generally cause mayhem. Its also about anger. Hence, its fairly depressing. I'm not sure I can say much more about it. It was a somewhat easy watch, with some fast paced scenes but its also sad as well.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

clem666

Jan 11, 2022

Here we come. Another movie praised for losing itself into labyrinthine (sub)plots, unclear and undefined characters. There are so many relations remaining in the shadows, unexplained. Everything gravitates around the self-centered Dounia (embodied by Oulaya Amamra) without letting time andHere we come. Another movie praised for losing itself into labyrinthine (sub)plots, unclear and undefined characters. There are so many relations remaining in the shadows, unexplained. Everything gravitates around the self-centered Dounia (embodied by Oulaya Amamra) without letting time and space for much reflection and introspection to breathe and develop. Events just go by and by balancing between violence, pseudo tenderness and inconsistencies.

'Divines' feels like Benyamina desperately tried to evoke raw and scraming injustices by magnifying the features of her experience that she projects on her main actress. The result is closer to a gloomy Grimm's tale than to an observation offering a reflection close to reality. Because you got it, 'Divines' is emotional. But does it have to be in this way, sounding so fake ? Did you think we needed those 105 minutes to realize reality is cold, dreaming feels great and that many things manage to make us collect what we deserve ?

Plus why that title ? Despite what you claim to have said I would have preferred 'Bâtardes' way more, which is closer to what 'Divines' actually made me feel and think. Here is my point : this movies feels violently torn between two realities, the one Benyamina had in mind and the one currently surrounding Parisian suburbs. Don't even need to pass primary school to realize violence almost always only generates more violence. But thank you for reminding us.

'Divines' surely deserves its 'gold camera' reward. Visually an conceptually it remains a beautiful movie. But its lack of poetry, meaningful sense and overall depth totally ruined my experience of it.

Je refuse que mes émotions soient engagées à ce point en l'honneur de la non-conclusion que ce film propose. Je serai ravi de changer d'avis lorsque je sentirai moins de prétention en ces efforts à offrir une réflexion ouverte, comme se voulait soi-disant l'être le choix du titre de 'Divines'.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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