The complicated bond between Mariam (Nimra Bucha), a traditionally minded Pakistani mother in Canada, and her daughter Azra (Amrit Kaur), an acting student, is at the heart of Fawzia Mirza’s “The Queen of My Dreams.” A vibrant dramedy, the film takes place over three time periods and settings as it tracks Mariam’s shift from youthful pleasure seeking to the conservative values she swears by — and foists upon her queer daughter — later in life.
The film opens in Toronto in 1999 as Azra and Mariam are butting heads. It then flashes back to two eras: 1969, where a pert, adolescent Mariam (Kaur again, with a bouffant) is falling in love in Karachi; and 1989 in Nova Scotia, where Mariam hosts Tupperware parties while a preteen Azra (Ayana Manji) struggles as a Muslim among her Christian classmates.
In granting equal screen time to the two women, the film shows how their lives expand and contract. Scenes of Mariam’s life in Pakistan buzz with 1960s Bollywood energy, a stark contrast to her staid middle age in Canada. The juxtaposition of the lifestyles builds a nostalgic mood and gestures at a generation of women transformed by societal pressures and familial anxieties.
Yet rather than intersperse the three periods, “The Queen of My Dreams” treats the earlier eras as extended flashbacks — an awkward structural choice. The fragmentation often seems to blunt the film’s emotion where it should be deepening it. But Kaur acts as an amiable anchor, gamely embodying a mother and a daughter across time periods.
The Queen of My Dreams
Not rated. In English and Urdu, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 36 minutes. In theaters.
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