In Flames stars Ramesha Nawa and Bakhtawar Mazha
In Flames is a 2024 psychological thriller-horror film directed by Zarrar Kahn in his debut feature. It is the first Pakistani film to compete for the prestigious Caméra d’Or prize in the Director’s Fortnight section at the Cannes Film Festival for over four decades.
Set in modern-day Karachi, south Pakistan it follows the journey of Mariam (Ramesha Nawal), a 25-year-old medical student, grappling with intersecting oppressions and grief. The film begins with her grandfather’s, the family’s patriarchal figure, funeral.
Her family made up of her widowed mother Fariha (Bakhtawar Mazhar), and her younger brother Bilal, (Jibran Khan) face financial ruin and watch their existences unravel.
While driving to go to the library, a disturbing man throws a brick at Mariam’s windshield and calls her a whore. She seeks help from her friend, who is accompanied by her cousin, Asad (Omar Javaid). A romantic connection between the two begins.
This is the start of an infernal spiral that Mariam and Fariha must navigate to find themselves and each other again. In Flames is, on a first look, an archetypal coming of age story engulfed in the shadow of gender-based violence.
It explicitly explores themes of emerging and waning female sexuality. But also subtly dissects fundamental questions about agency. This film masterfully highlights the tension between gender-based violence and abuse that is both seen and unseen.
Violence is a constant suffocating threat that even the male protagonists in the film cannot escape. Ghosts and apparitions haunt Mariam, and her hold on reality begins to slip as the film progresses.
However this is far from your typical story about women as defenceless victims needing to be rescued by a man. The women in this film seek and then exhaust every resource—namely legal and spiritual—to escape from this nightmare.
But the audience soon realises that the monstrosity of a sexist system is all-encompassing. It can only be by uniting that they find solace from the evil forces working against them.
The pace accelerates in the film’s last fifteen minutes and offers an unconventional conclusion. Invigorating yet slightly perplexing displays of female empowerment mark it.
This film was a captivating visual journey through the sumptuous aesthetics of Karachi. It is accentuated by grappling slow-burn shots and pulsing rhythms that push us through Mariam’s (un)reality.
Nawal’s performance was nothing short of outstanding. She was able to say a thousand words with her silence and body language alone.
Mazhar also offered a passionate account of a typical Pakistani mother determined to survive in an antagonistic environment.
She reminds us that “there are some scars you just have to learn to live with”. I appreciated how In Flames was a horror story without having to rely on body gore or cheap jump scares.
The themes covered were more than sufficient to create a captivating sense of tension in the audience.
In Flames will leave anyone—from expert film critics to casual cinemagoers—comforted by the warm, silken visuals and unsettled about the petrifying question about human nature that this story inevitably confronts its viewer with.
I highly recommend this film to anyone interested in embarking on an immersive experience seeking to interrogate the conflicts within us all.
In Flames is in cinemas from 24 May
