Just like a Woman (2012 film)

Just Like a Woman is an 2012 Englishlanguage film directed by Rachid Bouchareb, starring Sienna Miller and Golshifteh Farahani. The narrative follows an American housewife and a North African woman who travel from Chicago to Santa Fe to participate in a bellydance competition. The film is a coproduction between companies in France, the United Kingdom and the United States. Bouchareb intends it to be the first in a trilogy about the relation between North America and the Arab world.

One day, Marilyn comes to work and is fired due to the recession. Distraught and angry, she goes home and is disgusted to see Harvey having sex with another woman in their bed. Acting on advice from her dance coach, Marilyn decides to attend an audition for a dance company in Santa Fe and leaves Chicago without telling Harvey. On the same day, Mourads mother reveals that she has found him a new wife who will bear a child within a year. Distracted by the news, Mona spills her motherinlaws pillbox and, in her haste to collect the pills, gives her the wrong dosage. The next morning, Mourad finds his mother dead. Horrified by the discovery that she is responsible, Mona flees, intent on leaving the country. Later on, the police question Mourad about her whereabouts. At the same time, Marilyn ignores Harveys calls and is intent on driving 1,300 miles to Sante Fe. At a rest stop, she sees Mona and assumes that she too has fled her unhappy life at home. She invites her to come along and Mona agrees to be her dance partner for the gigs they will be performing along the way.While on the journey, the women bond as they realize that although they come from vastly different cultures, they share a likemind and a desire to be free from the upsets of the past. Mona assures Marilyn that she is not too old to be dancing citing the example of famed Egyptian dancer Samia Gamal and Marilyn defends Mona from the advances of a nightclub owner at their first gig. While backstage, Marilyn finds a newspaper with a photo of Mona in a missing persons ad. Mona insists that her motherinlaws death was accidental, but Marilyn is furious and accuses her of making her an accomplice in a getaway. Though conflicted, Marilyn leaves Mona on a Native American reservation with the money she has earned and drives off to Santa Fe alone. Minutes later, however, she gets a call from Harvey who has since reported her missing and breaks down with the realization that in ten years of marriage, they have done no

Source: Wikipedia