The String [Le Fil] *** (2009, Claudia Cardinale, Antonin Stahly, Salim Kechiouche) – Classic Movie Review 13,737

The 2009 French romantic drama film The String [Le Fil] stars Claudia Cardinale as a recently widowed mother, whose son falls in love with her dreamy handyman on her Tunis estate.

Director Mehdi Ben Attia’s 2009 French romantic drama film The String [Le Fil] stars Claudia Cardinale, Antonin Stahly and Salim Kechiouche.

The film focuses on the relationship of Malik with his mother Sara in the first weeks after Malik (Antonin Stahly) returns home from France to live with his recently widowed French-born mother Sara (Claudia Cardinale) on the family estate in the wealthy beachfront Tunis suburb of La Marsa.

There Malik (Stahly) falls in love with Sara’s dreamy young handyman, Bilal (Salim Kechiouche), who lives in a servant’s bungalow on the estate.

So Malik has a lot to contend with when he returns home to Tunisia after living in France. He’s trying to process his father’s death, he can’t out to his dominant mother who wants him to marry and have children, and his childhood anxieties have resurfaced. But Malik’s problems all seem to vanish when he falls for Bilal.

The String [Le Fil] provides an excellent role for an imperious Claudia Cardinale, who grabs hold of it eagerly and commandingly yet subtly. Mehdi Ben Attia is fortunate to have her starring in his film. It’s a shock to see this great beauty as she is in 2009. Time hasn’t been that kind to her physically, yet her acting skills are honed beautifully. It is a subtle graceful performance, very memorable. Antonin Stahly is excellent as the troubled man on the horns of various dilemmas. Happiness is clearly within his reach, but will he get there?  There is a wealth of bourgeois angst. Salim Kechiouche is good as the dreamy houseboy. No dilemma there.

The film feels like a personal statement in the French style. Emotionally, it runs hot and cold, with the mixer tap hovering between warm and chilly. It is subtle, intelligent and moving, great on feelings and the gap between what’s spoken and what’s felt. It’s a small film, but perfectly formed. It doesn’t push to hard or try to go too far, staying in its own comfort zone, but it’s easy to get involved in it, and care about its characters and their fates. Of course the acting is a big part of this, not least from Claudia Cardinale, who alone would make it worthwhile.

The String? Malik feels he is attached at his back to a string that threatens to entangle and strangle him, afflicted with a deep anxiety over his ambivalent relationship with his dominating mother, who he is dependent on but cannot confront about his homosexuality. The film’s title is also a play on words: Le Fil (the thread), Le fils (the son).

Most of the film was shot in Tunisia, where the director and star were born.

Director: Mehdi Ben Attia

Writers: Mehdi Ben Attia (screenplay), Olivier Laneurie (screenplay)

Stars: Claudia Cardinale, Antonin Stahly Viswanadhan, Salim Kechiouche.

Claudia Cardinale

Claude Joséphine Rose Cardinale (15 April 1938 – 23 September 2025)

Claudia Cardinale said in 2014: “I still continue to work, it’s 142 movies now. Usually when you are old you don’t work any more, but I still work, which is good. I’ve been very lucky because I’ve had many fantastic directors with me, Fellini, Visconti, Blake Edwards, lots and lots.’

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,737

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