Raja

Raja, a film in French, has been on my watchlist for a long time. It looked good plus it had won awards at two different film festivals. Well, I was wrong. This is terrible and pathetic film that I did not enjoy. So what is the story?

A rich middle-aged Frenchman pursues an unattractive, poor Moroccan girl. Raja plays out as an unsettling love story. Initially, 19-year-old Raja (Najat Benssallem) seems immodest and Fred (Rohmer vet Pascal Greggory), who employs her to work in his garden, appears bizarrely familiar with the help. The object of Fred's desire is, it's often pointed out, no great beauty. His housekeeper warns him that the girl is no good. This is true because the orphaned Raja has a boyfriend who is her pimp. Mind games and misunderstandings proliferate, thanks to the mutual inability of Raja and Fred to understand each other's language (French and Arabic). However in no way does this curtail the would-be seducer's constant philosophizing.

I do not recommend this terrible movie. It is not worth your time.