Yamina Benguigui, of Algerian descent, is simultaneously a writer, politician, and director for both cinema and television. Sisters is only her second feature fiction film. The screenplay for Sisters was written by Yamina Benguigui in collaboration with her daughter Farah and Sylvain Saada.
For thirty years, three Franco-Algerian sisters, Zorah, Nohra, and Djamila, have lived in hope of finding their brother Rheda, who was taken by their father and hidden in Algeria. When they learn that their father is dying, they decide to travel to Algeria together with the hope that he will reveal their brother’s location. This begins a race against time for Zorah and her sisters in an Algeria where the winds of revolution are rising.
The three sisters were born in France and have established themselves there. However, the journey they embark upon in Algeria will remind them of their difficult situation, caught between a country, France, where they grew up but are often not fully accepted, and another country, Algeria, which no longer truly recognizes them as its own. They will discover an Algeria in turmoil, with a large part of its population peacefully standing against the corruption and lack of democracy of its leaders. The three sisters will find themselves amidst demonstrations directed against the founding fathers of Algeria, and thus, in a sense, against their own father.
To portray the three sisters, it was hard to find a better trio than Isabelle Adjani (Zohra), Rachida Brakni (Djamila), and Maïwenn (Norah). In this film devoted to women, the only significant male role is that of the actor assigned to play Ahmed, the father, in Zohra’s play. The talented Rachid Djaïdani can be seen in this role.