Paris, 1993. Selma, 17, lives in a bourgeois and secular Berber family. When she meets Julien, a provocative young man, she realis for the first time how the heavy rules of patriarchy affect her intimacy.

When searching for a blessing on the day of her firstborn’s naming ceremony, a mother is instead foretold a curse: her son, Muzamil, will die at the age of 20. Muzamil’s father cannot stand the...