"Set mainly against the magnificent backdrop of the ancient village of Karnak, a train of tragic and bewildering events disrupts the lives of three generations of women. In this daring and powerful new film, Khairy Beshara examines through the rituals of birth, marriage and death during the two decades preceding the 1952 revolution, the hold of myths and tradition on an Upper Egyptian village. Hazina Wife of an invalid and mother of an absent son (who is working in Sudan), struggles hard to ensure her daughter's happiness, even if she has to resort to magic to unbind the spell of her daugther's marriage to an impotent blacksmith...But all courageous and individual attempts seem to be wasted against the bonds of tradition, poverty and paucity of choice. Despite an abundance of sensuality and life, the recurrence of tragic events emphasizes the changelessness of the village and time. But the overriding metaphors of Beshara's beautiful film are impotence and absence, perhaps today's most poignant Arab concerns."

Rosa Issa, London Film Festival, November 1987