A gentle, touching narrative as, having arrived in London from her home in a Bangladesh village to an arranged marriage, Nazneen finds herself over the years more and more entrapped.
An East End flat, two school-age daughters and an older husband (Satish Kaushik) constantly bypassed for promotion, a voiceless Nazneen (Tannishtha Chatterjee) leaves her home only to shop. With a new neighbour, the opportunity to earn her own money from home sewing is too good an opportunity to pass by. But it exposes her to the handsome Karim (Christopher Simpson – Sixteen, The Keeper).
Set in the aftermath of 9/11, racism is on the rise in the UK resulting in a more militant response from younger Muslims. But in adapting the more hard-edged Monica Ali novel for the screen, director Sarah Gavron chooses to focus primarily on the family drama unfolding behind closed doors.
Rating: 60%
Director: Sarah Gavron (Suffragette, Rocks)
Writer: Laura Jones (An Angel at My Table, A Portrait of a Lady), Abi Morgan (The Iron Lady, Shame) – based on the novel by Monica Ali
Main cast: Tannishtha Chatterjee (Lion, Anna Karenina), Christopher Simpson (Sixteen, The Keeper), Satish Kaushik (Haseena Maan Jaayegi, Saajan Chale Sasural)
An Opinion or Two 