Starting with Ravel’s Bolero and finishing with it, DIVERTIMENTO is the best use of this piece of classical music in a motion picture since Allegro Non Troppo.
Classical symphonic music is everything for 17-year-old Zahia Ziouani and her twin sister, Fettouma. Nevertheless, living in the underprivileged Parisian suburb of Stains in 1995 with their Algerian background and their gender, they struggle arduously to approach their dreams – Zahia becoming an orchestra conductor and Fettouma, a cellist.
Racism, sexism and social status all conspire against these females, especially Zahia, but they refuse to be silenced or rendered invisible.
Driven by determination, passion, courage and an unswervingly supportive mother and father, these girls hunker down in the face of conservative and outmoded rules.
Zahia in particular, with her wish to be a conductor, faces seemingly insurmountable odds. I guess it’s not called a conservatory for nothing.
But her dynamism and determination to wield the baton is indelible.
DIVERTIMENTO is far more than a diversion. It distills for us the living essence of striving in the face of adversity and the very real and tangible value of diversity.
This marriage of movie and music speaks to our whole soul, vicariously tapping into our heart and mind, alike all good drama is an extension and an illumination of our experience, not something different or “artistic”, although there is plenty of the truly artistic on view here.
Oulaya Amamra is shimmeringly charismatic as Zahia, shrewdly separating the churlish chaff from the nourishing grain of self belief and the wisdom bestowed by Sergiu Celibidache, maestro and mentor, impishly played by Niels Arestrup.
Lina El Arabi as Fettouma is equally entertaining and nourishing.
Directed by Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar, DIVERTIMENTO is much more than a mere distraction, rather, it is a celebration extolling the virtues of boldness and bravery and conviction and courage and the magical power of music and those who make it.
