Elaha, directed by Milena Aboyan, is a powerful contemporary story about the conflict between tradition and modernity in the life of a young girl from an immigrant family in Germany.
This girl's life
by Alexa DalbyElaha
CAUTION: Here be spoilers
Elaha (beatifully played by Bayan Layla) is a 17-year-old Kurdish girl living in Germany with her family. She is happy to respect Kurdish culture but we can see she also doesn’t agree with some of the rules. She is outwardly obedient to her parents and the traditions they uphold and it appears she is happy to do so. She attends college and would like to stay on and take her Baccalaureate. Meanwhile she has little free time: as well as running errands for her mother, she has a part-time job in a laundry, run by her Kurdish fiancé Nasim’s (Armin Yeganeh) sister (Hadnet Tesfai).
Elaha is dreading her wedding in nine weeks’ time because then, as well as her husband, everyone in her community will find out she is not a virgin, so she does everything she can to get her hymen reconstructed in time for her wedding night, but she cannot afford the private procedure, or the time it would take. It’s a matter of ‘honour’.
Every aspect of her life as a member of the Kurdish community is ‘policed’ by her community and everything she does gets reported back to her mother (Derya Durmaz), to whom tradition and behaving with propriety as a girl is overridingly important – as she believes “Damage to one sheep in the flock embarrasses the shepherd.”
Elaha tries to have a fun night out with her Kurdish girlfriends, Cansu, Leyan and Berivan but it ends in an unplanned way: talking together beforehand in the ladies’, the girls all lament their lack of sexual freedom but also reveal the hypocrisy their culture requires of them.
Realising Elaha’s plight, her pregnant teacher is sympathetic and clear-sightedly helpful with Elaha’s struggle to find her freedom and sexuality in a patriarchal society.
Elaha has a real-life feel, almost like a dramatised documentary. Colour is an important indicator of Elaha’s life and state of mind. Though unobtrusively directed, as written by Aboyan it is quite didactic. Director Milena Aboyan “… is Armenian and moved to Germany as a young girl. With her film she also wants to explain that within German culture there are other cultures that are no longer alien but an integral part of this country’s culture. It is a film about a specific culture but we all come across rules that we sometimes do not understand.”
Despite the importance to them of their culture, Elaha’s family obviously have tried to integrate – they speak German at home – though her father, to his shame cannot find a job, as his experience and qualifications are not recognised in Germany. However, the film shows this Kurdish family as victims of an outmoded way of life in the context of modern Germany. It is interesting that in this and every culture, women are particularly harsh on other women. Nasim, although of a younger generation than their parents, is still an overbearing and possessive Kurdish male, who doesn’t question the double standards for men and women that determine his behaviour to Elaha.
What should Elaha do? Should she go ahead with the wedding? Could she even not? Should she admit her true feelings? Does she know what she really feels? She is under unbearable pressure to conform – does she? Does she learn to own her own body? It is revealed that somehow she has a secret liberated (unsuitable) boyfriend – with him she feels free to come and go as she pleases, something she realises she values as much as tradition. Will she seek the freedom to be the woman she wants to be?
Elaha premiered at the Berlinale, previewed on International Women’s Day at the BFI Southbank and is released on 26 April 2024 in the UK.
