Nora Aboushoushah’s short ‘Lucky You’re Mine’ is a heartbreaking and intimate look at the devastating effects of a mental health crisis on the lives of not only those directly suffering, but the loved ones who surround them. As we focus on one couple, we take a journey through suffering, acceptance, resilience and most of all, love. Set in Saudi Arabia, Nora delicately points audiences to the universality of her story through her relatable and touching narrative.
Screening as part of Hastings International Film Festival on Saturday the 13th of April at 2pm as part of our programme “Love is just a Four Letter Word.”
Just days after they get married, Salma has a manic episode. Ahmad is determined to help his wife get back to herself again but nothing he does seems to work. A modern Saudi marriage story.
‘Lucky You’re Mine’ wastes no time in propelling us to the heart of the melancholy narrative in the first few scenes as tragedy overtakes a young couple’s brand new union. Salma, played by Raghd Faisal, is so disturbed by the death of her mother she is so overtaken by grief and sorrow she struggles to find her way back to herself and her husband. Flashbacks of happier times when they were wed, accompanied by swathes of joyful music only serve to make the rest of the film more powerful as we see that our young couple’s exuberance of joy has been stripped from them in the ensuing narrative.
The writing in ‘Lucky You’re Mine’ deserves close attention. Every line holds its own and the back-and-forth snappy and humorous scenes, where Salma and her husband Ahmad, played by Hassan Quduss, are engaged in typical male versus female conversations with their peers at work, enhances the audience’s relationship with the couple. This strength in writing and understanding of the topic at hand is seen in a subsequent. Salma is struggling, her mania taking over as she rants about her days, work and upbringing in nonsensical order. We see the excruciating curtain drawing tighter as her illness clouds her judgement and ability to function as she did before.
The editing is highly effective throughout the film, especially evidenced in the scene of our young couple on the sofa. Days, weeks, perhaps months pass as Salma cannot be roused from her stupor as her loving and doting husband does everything he can to help her. We don’t know how long it has been but feel the stretch of time and the effect it has on everything.
The whole film is striking in its juxtaposition between the colour, shine and rich environment we see our couple in, and their tough interior battle. Their lovingly decorated house, the bright scenes at work and normalcy of everything around them only seem to make the focus on Salma’s suffering and her husband’s plight harder. Aboushoushah was inspired to tell this story after seeing a friend’s marriage go through a similar hardship and the story is told with the care and attention it deserves.
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