OF CERTAIN AGE

ONLY REBELS WIN

2026 / 98 min / color

65-year-old widow Suzanne (played by an icon of Palestinian cinema, the always wonderful Hiam Abbass) lives in Beirut, where one day she witnesses a racist attack on a young Sudanese immigrant named Osmane. She defends him without hesitation and the incident sparks a passionate affair between them. Suzanne’s friends, neighbors and adult children are all shocked; they can’t wrap their heads around the idea of a mature woman in a relationship with an undocumented man half her age and from a completely different world. But defying cultural and racial norms, as well as the disapproval of those around them, gives Suzanne and Osmane an unexpected strength to fight for their right to happiness and self-determination. Presented in this year’s Berlinale Panorama section, Danielle Arbid’s movie is a portrait of a proud, independent woman of a certain age who doesn’t care about what other people say or think, despite living in a cultural reality still governed by rigid patriarchal rules. In this role, Hiam Abbass delivers one of the finest performances of her distinguished career.