Hany Abu-Assad’s political and emotional thriller explores a dangerous clash between two women struggling to cope with life under occupation.
Huda’s Salon Movie Storyline. Nadia, a young mother married to a jealous man, goes to Huda’s salon in Bethlehem, for a haircut and an attentive ear. But this ordinary visit turns sour when Huda, after having put Nadia in a shameful situation, blackmails her to have her work for the secret service. As Nadia escapes the salon, that same night, Huda is arrested by Hasan. They find nameless pictures of all the women Huda recruited, including Nadia’s. Huda knows that she will be executed the moment she gives up the names. She tries to bide herself as much time as possible.
Palestinian filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad, whose films Paradise Now and Omar were both nominated for Oscars, continues to deliver hard-hitting stories from the moral frontline. In Huda’s Salon, that line is located in “Bethlehem, West Bank, Occupied Palestine.” In a thriller of political and emotional twists and turns, Abu-Assad reveals a society poisoned by the betrayal and intrigue that comes with occupation.
Reem (Maisa Abd Elhadi) visits Huda’s hair salon for her usual treatment. As they chat, what starts as a lovely domestic drama shifts hard when Reem is betrayed by Huda (Manal Awad) and thrown into a dangerously compromising situation. She’s offered only one way out: work with Israel’s secret service, spying on her own community. As Reem tries to extricate herself from an impossible dilemma, Huda’s actions threaten her own safety. As in every region torn apart by war, the broader battle lines and larger violence also take a more intimate form between individuals trying to survive at any cost.
In sharp scenes that cut to the heart of the conflict, Huda’s Salon turns its lens inward, ruthlessly exploring how living under constant threat of violence corrodes its characters’ relationships and their grasp on moral certainty. Reem is drawn into the world of neighbours and friends spying on each other that Huda already secretly inhabits. With resistance fighters amongst them who show no hesitation to take the life of a traitor, these two women — whether innocent or compromised — face the harsh choices determined by their environment. “It’s easier to occupy a society,” Huda says at one point, “that is already repressing itself.”
Huda’s Salon is a 2021 internationally co-produced thriller film written, directed, and produced by Hany Abu-Assad. It stars Ali Suliman, Samer Bisharat, Maisa Abd Elhadi and Manal Awad. It had its world premiere at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival in September 2021.
Huda’s Salon (2022)
Directed by: Hany Abu-Assad
Starring: Ali Suliman, Samer Bisharat, Maisa Abd Elhadi, Manal Awad, Kamel El Basha, Omar Abu Amer
Screenplay by: Hany Abu-Assad
Production Design by:
Cinematography by: Peter Flickenberg, Ehab Assal
Film Editing by: Eyas Salman
Makeup Department: Iris Peleira
Music by: Jeffrey van Rossum
MPAA Rating: R for disturbing violent content and graphic nudity.
Distributed by: IFC Films
Release Date: September 9, 2021 (TIFF), March 4. 2022 (United States)
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