The Mother of All Lies review – pursuing the truth of Morocco’s brutal dictatorship years

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Asmae El Moudir employs a delicate mix of handmade replicas and oral testimony to brilliantly evoke personal and collective trauma Between those who refuse to remember and those who struggle to forget, a tumultuous clash of minds occupies the centre of Asmae El Moudir’s inventive documentary, a prize-winner at last year’s Cannes film festival. Through a constellation of clay figurines and dollhouse-style miniature sets, most of which were constructed by El Moudir’s father, the director recreates her oppressive childhood in the Sebata district of Casablanca. Under the watchful eyes of her domineering grandmother Zahra, all personal photos are banished from the house, save for a picture of King Hassan II. The delicate mix of handmade replicas and oral testimony brilliantly evokes the personal and collective trauma that stem from Morocco’s “Years of Lead” – a period of state brutality under Hassan II’s dictatorial rule. Lingering on the nimble fingers of El Moudir’s father as he puts t
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Behind the scenes with Sofia Coppola: memories from a life in film

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The celebrated director looks back at her career, sharing the inspirations and experiences that shaped films from Lost in Translation to her forthcoming biopic, Priscilla​. Words by Sofia Coppola, introduction by Kathryn Bromwich

There is a particular aesthetic that runs through Sofia Coppola’s work, whether she is turning her gauzy, feminised lens on the southern gothic of The Beguiled or urban alienation in Lost in Translation, the rococo excesses of Marie Antoinette or disaffected suburban youths in The Bling Ring. Coppola is adept at creating heady atmospheres and worlds that feel fully realised, her characters veering between emptiness, desire and repression; the frames in her films have a painterly quality, straddling the line between beauty and claustrophobia. Her singular style has influenced much of contemporary popular culture, from Lana Del Rey’s wistful music videos to Emma Cline’s novels about lonely and potentially dangerous young women.

Coppola’s first book, Archive, collects behind-the-scenes ephemera from her films, starting with her 1999 directorial debut, The Virgin Suicides, and ending with her forthcoming biopic of Elvis Presley’s young bride, Priscilla. Holed up at home in Napa, California, during the pandemic, Coppola started to go through boxes of old material: Polaroids, early scripts, clippings, letters, doodles. These discarded objects had taken on a nostalgic quality over the years, and so Coppola put together the most meaningful mementoes from each project, accompanying them with musings and personal recollections. Speaking to journalist Lynn Hirschberg in the book’s introduction, Coppola reflects on Priscilla, which premieres at the Venice international film festival next month. “Across all my films, there is a common quality: there is always a world and there is always a girl trying to navigate it. That’s the story that will always intrigue me.” Kathryn Bromwich

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