Director: Zarrar Kahn
Writers: Zarrar Kahn
Stars: Ramesha Nawal, Omar Javaid, Bakhtawar Mazhar
Synopsis: After the death of the family patriarch, a mother and daughter’s precarious existence is ripped apart. They must find strength in each other if they are to survive the malevolent forces that threaten to engulf them.
In Flames, the latest feature from Zarrah Kahn, was the first Pakistani film to appear in Director’s Fortnight at Cannes and was Pakistan’s entry to Best International Film at the Oscars, so it is fair to say that it has attracted quite a bit of attention internationally. The Buzz is justified.
Mariam is a young woman with a lot to deal with. When we first meet her and her family, they are saying goodbye to her recently deceased Grandfather. We later learn that in recent years, her Grandfather has been supporting her family ever since the death of her Father. With no stabilizing male figure in their lives, the family is thrown into a precarious financial and living situation. At the same time, Mariam meets and falls in love with Asad, a fellow medical student, who sweeps her off her feet. Sadly, their relationship takes an unexpected turn. As her life becomes more and more complicated, Mariam starts experiencing more and more strange phenomena, is she losing her mind? Or is something more sinister going on?
The film takes its time before ramping up the tension, which is no bad thing. Khan seems happy to ease the audience into this world using gorgeous establishing shots and an almost documentary-like style to immerse you in the lives of its characters; you get a real sense of these people and their lives. They feel like real people with relatable concerns about normal things like paying the bills, saying goodbye to an important family figure and dealing with complicated family relationships, all whilst juggling school and everyday life. There is even a sequence early on that almost plays like a gentle romantic comedy, the effect of which is devastating later. The film goes to such lengths to ground itself in reality so that when the plot demands that paranormal things start to happen, it’s earned.
On the surface, the story requires the sort of ritual to stop the living from being tormented by the dead that horror fans will likely recognize well, but below the genre conventions, In Flames deals with hefty themes like misogyny and mental health. It is no coincidence, for example, that our protagonist and her Mother are constantly vulnerable to the whims of the men in their lives, men whose intentions are not always pure and whose motives are often dishonorable. Whether the behavior of these men is a byproduct of a curse seems irrelevant when the impact of their actions is something with real consequences.
As Mariam’s and her family’s situation deteriorates, these threats appear to multiply in number, which correlates with an acceleration in the visions that torment her. Is what she is experiencing real? Or is it an understandable consequence of the trauma and grief that she must be feeling from the tragedy and stress of their situation?
By the time In Flames answers that question definitively, it doesn’t make all that much difference to how you experience the film, you already know how you feel and you wish nothing but the best for Mariam and her family. A sure sign that a filmmaker has done their job well.
Special praise should be reserved for Ramesha Nawal, as Mariam. She plays the role of a dutiful daughter and sister with ambitions to make it as a doctor beautifully. Her gradual disintegration as her situation and mental health deteriorate is perfectly performed. It would be all too easy in a role like this to overplay the psychological thriller part of the story, descending into a recognizable and overwrought madness. Nawal never does that and it is to her and her director’s immense credit.
In Flames brings a lightness of touch to a psychological thriller that compels you to root for its characters, not because they are heroic, or because they do something remarkable to save themselves, but because they are simple, vulnerable people with enough on their plate already. They could be any of us. Their struggle is universal and relatable; and something that audiences of all types can identify with. In Flames will likely be a small release outside of Pakistan but I do hope that it finds a wider audience. It deserves to.
