This light, gentle comedy ironically takes place in Tunisia in 1967, just as the Middle East is about to burst into war. However, in the “paradise” of La Goulette, Jews, Muslims and Christians live in harmony, sharing drinks and gossip, family problems and celebrations. While religion has its place here, friendship and neighborliness seem to be stronger forces than politics and ethnicity.
This film offers a rare look at a vanished community of North African Jews through the story of three teenage girlfriends— a Muslim, a Catholic and a Jew—and their fathers, also the best of friends. The rebellious girls make a pact to lose their virginity, each with a young man of a different religion. When the fathers discover the plan, each blames the others for the girls’ loose morals. Can the fathers reconcile? Perhaps, but the coming war will test the fragile spirit of coexistence in a different way.