‘Sink’ review: Visually striking Jordanian debut offers authentic depiction of mental illness

Dir/scr: Zain Duraie. Jordan/Saudi Arabia/Qatar/France. 2025. 88mins

Mom of three Nadia (Clara Khoury) can really feel her teenage oldest son, Basil (Mohammad Nizar), drifting away from her. This shouldn’t be an issue – he’s about to graduate highschool in any case. However the wedge between Basil and the world is not only adolescent revolt, however a spiralling psychological well being disaster. This spectacular Jordan-set debut from Zain Duraie examines a mom’s anguish because the extent of her youngster’s issues turns into devastatingly clear and the image’s claustrophobic pressure builds to an explosive crescendo.

Strips again the taboos round psychological sickness

Duraie, who was considered one of Display screen Worldwide’s 2024 Arab Stars Of Tomorrow and who has additionally labored as a manufacturing supervisor on movies akin to Palestine 36, minimize her directing enamel with a number of brief movies; her second Give Up The Ghost, premiered in Venice competitors in 2021 and gained the Finest Arab Quick Movie award at El Gouna. Sink (the Arabic title interprets as ‘drowning’) is an achieved function debut which strips again the taboos round psychological sickness and is impressed by the director’s private experiences. It additionally introduces Duraie as a notable expertise with an eloquent grasp of visible language. Following its Toronto premiere and London berth, the movie now screens in Crimson Sea competitors; additional competition play is probably going, and the image may discover a dwelling with a curated streaming platform or arthouse distributor.

Khoury, who additionally seems in a key function in The Voice Of Hind Rajab, offers a exceptional efficiency as a mom whose dogged advocacy for her son blinds her, initially, to the extent of his undiagnosed psychological well being points. When Basil is suspended from college, for hitting a instructor, she unquestioningly accepts his aspect of the story – that the incident was an accident and the varsity’s response was an overreaction. Nadia’s narrative is that the varsity has failed her brilliant, unconventional youngster. 

We view the story by means of Nadia’s eyes and the expressive cinematography by Farouk Laaridh (whose earlier credit embrace Kaouther Ben Hania’s 4 Daughters) displays this. The image opens with a good, boxy facet ratio and neatly symmetrical framing inside it. Our perspective of this story is filtered by means of the lens of a mom’s denial; primarily, we see what she desires to see.

Nadia has a particular bond with Basil; she focuses on him on the expense of her different two kids and she or he has a knack for connecting together with her son and speaking him down when the moments of mania kick in. However even to Nadia, it turns into clear that one thing may be very flawed. There’s a pivotal second when actuality sinks in: the facet ratio widens at this level and the digital camera will get extra jittery. From this second on, each mom and son really feel more and more susceptible and small within the large expanse of the body. 

Water is a recurring motif within the image. The movie opens on the swimming pool, a spot which supplies a second of calm in Basil’s besieged psychological state. However, because the title suggests, water additionally supplies a metaphor for the difficulties that threaten to submerge Nadia, stranding her from her buddies and the remainder of her household. Ted Regklis’s rating picks up on the theme, with rippling, eddying piano music that flows between the scenes. 

What actually impresses in Duraie’s directing decisions is how a lot she manages to convey with out dialogue. Repeated close-ups on the faces of each Khoury and Nizar specific excess of the mom and son can carry themselves to say with phrases. The ultimate shot – wordless, sustained and wrenchingly highly effective – tells us, and Basil, that regardless of the whole lot, Nadia’s love is unshakeable and unconditional.