INCENDIES

The twins Jeanne and Simon Marwan are stunned when they receive two letters from their deceased mother Nawal at the notary. One letter is addressed to their father, whom they thought had died, and one is for their brother, whose existence they never knew about. These enigmatic letters explain to Jeanne the elusive silence of her mother in the last weeks of her life. Jeanne decides to leave for the Middle East to learn more about her family history. Her brother Simon is not touched by his mother's delusions, who was always cold and distant to him. Yet the love for his sister is so strong that he joins the search for their family history. Together with the notary, they discover the tragic fate of their mother, which is marked by both war and hatred as well as by the courage of an exceptional woman. The adaptation of the successful play 'Incendies' by Wajdi Mouawad is a deeply moving coming-of-age story that brings the war to a personal level. The film powerfully and poetically shows both the indelible scars of violence and the miraculous will to survive.