The Secret Laughter of Women


RUN TIME: 95 Minutes

FILMING LOCATIONS: La Ville de Grasse, Provence, France Southern France London, England, UK

DIRECTOR: Peter Schwabach	WRITER: Misan Sagay, O. O. Sagay
PRODUCER: Janet E Cudy, Michael Dreyer, Gareth Jones, Michael McDonald, Misan Sagay, Jon Slan	CINEMATOGRAPHY: Martin Fuhrer

Cast - in credits order Colin Firth ... Matthew Field Nia Long ... Nimi Da Silva Dan Lett ... John Joke Silva ... Nene Ariyon Bakare ... Reverend Fola Joy Elias-Rilwan ... Mama Fola Hakim Kae-Razim ... Doctor Ade Bella Enahoro ... Madame Rosa Fissy Roberts ... Sammy Rakie Ayola ... Talking Drum Caroline Goodall ... Jenny Field Ellen Thomas ... Bitter Leaf Thomas Baptiste ... Papa Fola Willie Jonah ... Old uncle Ho Yi ... Chen Kemi Baruwa ... Sugar Mike Koohefkan ... Jean Claude Delgado Nichole Blanchet ... Mrs Delgado Maddalena Milani ... Inez Catherine Koohefkan ... Teacher Frank Bellorti ... Frederick	Production Companies Handmade Films Ltd. Paragon Entertainment Corporation Distributors Optimum Releasing (UK) Other Companies Lee Lighting Ltd. ... lighting
MUSIC:

Synopsis: A beautiful young single mother, Nimi (Long), feels the pressure from the expatriate Nigerian community in which she lives to get married. Coincidentally, her precocious young son has just met his hero, a cynical English comic book writer (Firth), and decides that he is the perfect match for his beloved mother. The couple is drawn together by their differences and their love is tested by the resistance they get from the community.

Like Bertolucci's recent film Besieged, The Secret Laughter of Women is about the relationship between a young African woman, in this case Nimi, a single mother with a mischievous eight-year-old son, and an aloof but charming ex-pat Englishman Matthew. Where Bertolucci's film was set in a grey, autumnal Rome and was full of jarring handheld camerawork, Peter Schwabach's debut feature unfolds in a French coastal town at the height of summer. The blue skies and the flamboyant costumes worn by the Nigerian women who swarm around Nimi, advising her about whom she should marry and how she should behave, help to create a mood of benevolence. With its travel-show locations and such warm, luxuriant colours to the fore, we know right away no one is going to suffer.

O. O. Sagay's perceptive, often witty screenplay shows the burden that family, church and community place on the free-spirited single mum. "This society is like a blanket against the cold world outside," one character tells Nimi, but the downside, as Matthew warns her, is that if she does do exactly what this society demands, she risks "burying her life under an avalanche of duty and obligation." For an outsider like Matthew, the close-knit Nigerian community seems more hostile than welcoming. He doesn't understand its codes, its tradition of hospitality or the meaning of the mysterious proverbs the women quote. But this is a romantic comedy, not a searching drama about exile or cultural and racial difference. It's obvious Nimi and Matthew are going to get together in the end, however fraught their courtship. The Reverend Fola, Matthew's rival, may be good-looking and command respect from Nimi's interfering, if kind-hearted, mother, but the moment Nimi's son Sammy spills food on him in church, we realise that he is far too priggish and too censorious for Nimi.

Sammy is the go-between who introduces his mother to Matthew, but as a character in his own right, he threatens to unbalance the film. What otherwise seems like an adult romance turns into a kids' movie whenever he's around. There are some bizarre shifts in tone. One moment, Sammy and Matthew are chatting about comic-book heroes and plotting mischief; the next, Matthew's snobbish, arrogant wife is demanding to know why he doesn't want to go to bed with her. Still, even if the clunky, boy's-own action sequences (such as Sammy's near drowning) don't sit at all comfortably with the scenes delving into the characters' troubled love lives, and even if some of the romantic scenes verge on the cornball The Secret Laughter of Women is warm, easygoing and picturesque - a film very hard to dislike.

Geoffrey Macnab
January 2000 Sight and Sound.

Secret Laughter of Women – Comment on imdb

*Warning! Some spoilers!*

Matt, a rich writer, is in fact still just a boy in his behaviour. He doesn't care about anyone's needs but his own and couldn't care less about the consequences of any of his actions.
Just as he gets to know Nimi and her bonds with her family and her community he starts to feel that something is missing in his life. He starts to realize that he is, in fact, lonely and stuck in impersonal structures that are just convenient but lack heart and commitment. Nevertheless he shies away from any responsibilities and is reluctant to change his life. But will he be able to settle again in his old life and ignore the bonds he's already - unconsciously - formed?

Nimi's situation is the absolute opposite. She is pressed into the regulations of her Nigerian community, its prejudices and its medieval values. Being a single mother, her position is difficult, and it gets even worse when she falls in love with Matt, a white devil (as the Reverend would say), a man who cannot commit. The women of the community plan to marry her to the Reverend to end her single status and give Sammy "a name". But that would mean for Nimi to give up all independence and self-determination. But is there an alternative for her if she wants Sammy to be accepted and herself to become a respected member of the community?

This movie has it all: a very sensitive and sensual love story (with VERY sexy scenes of Matt and Nimi) and an endearing child who is eagerly matchmaking, and beautiful scenery in lively colours.

Colin Firth (*swoon*) and Nia Long show a great chemistry. It's just fantastic to watch them. And Fissy Roberts as Sammy is just to die for. You simply want to adopt him. I just love the way Sammy and Matthew talk to each other. They are both on the same level in many ways.
Especially when Sammy asks Matt about Sex. This scene is absolutely adorable!!

Almost nothing to complain about.... wait! That's not true. One thing is not good: That the movie is not long enough!
(Well, and maybe that the Reverend is too bad and too silly to be convincing....)

10 of 10, by all means!