Much Loved

Noha is the leader of a group of luxury prostitutes, which consists of herself, Soukaina, Randa and Hlima who sell sex to rich Arabian clients. The women live together in an apartment and look after each other. Whenever they attend private parties with wealthy Saudi-Arabians, or are at dodgy nightclubs, Said is the one who drive them around and protect them. When Noha does not sell sex, she wears a hijab and visits her mother where her son also lives. The relationship between mother and daughter is tense to say the least, but Noha’s mother always accepts her money. For the director of Much Loved, this symbolizes Moroccan society’s double standard for the sellers of sex: to make money off of them is okay, but they shall be morally condemned.

The film takes on the corrupt and dangerous underground world of Marrakech, and expectedly created trouble for the director in his home country. Vulgar language, women’s breasts and sex scenes made sure the film was forbidden to show in Morocco. That does not mean many have not seen it, and digital download numbers are massive. The argument for banning the film in Morocco is due to degrading of women. But even if this is not an acceptable reasoning, the question still remains whether it contributes to bring up an important and censured phenomenon in Morocco, or if it is just a problematic “male perception” of women.