Seven years to film, one hell of a descent — this dealer's humanity might break you.
Cour interdite is about drugs, naïve dreams, and the demise of values. A young Arab from the Paris suburbs, where poverty, unemployment and drugs are very much the reality, Djamel Ouahab saw many people around him dying, which led him to this project that took seven years to complete. The director plays a drug dealer who takes care of his family, protects his mother, and tries to shield his little brother from the drugs around him. He also has to help an addicted friend to quit his habit. Just when we think that he might be successful, reality hits him in the face. The message is that you can't escape drugs with drug money. Cour interdite chronicles the drug dealer's descent into hell. It is a realistic film with poetic dimensions. Ouahab tries to show the world of drug addicts but also the human side of the dealer.
Direction
Ouahab's seven-year passion project bleeds authenticity.
Acting
Director as lead — lived-in, unglamorous, devastating.
Writing
The poetic dimension in unflinching social realism.
Director
Djamel Ouahab
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Ouahab spent seven years financing and shooting this, often between day jobs in the Paris suburbs he depicts.
Released in 1999, it predates La Haine's international fame but shares its raw portrait of French banlieue life — yet remains nearly impossible to find.
FR
