Honey and Ashes on AllMovie

The lives of three disparate Tunisian women -- united only by the treatment of their gender by their countrymen -- intersect in this provocative drama that quietly protests the continued oppression of women in North African Moslem countries. Leila is in her 20s and is secretly in love with Hassan. The two must tryst on the sly, for her father is a strict traditionalist. One day three fellows see Leila and Hassan kissing on a beach. Believing her to be a loose woman, they attack and try to rape her. She escapes and is picked up alongside the road by Naima, a middle-aged doctor. Naima once studied medicine in Moscow and had been in love with a Russian student but was later forced to marry another in a union her parents arranged. Once at work, Naima works on Amina, a young woman who was terribly injured during a "fall." Actually it was Amina's husband who caused the injuries. Realizing this, Naima gives the girl some strong advice.