For a sophomore film by director Iram Haq, What Will People Say is a true work of art. Just when you thought cinematography couldn’t get any better… this dramatic and astounding film is proof that the beauty of cinema is not only defined by “good” dialogue to promote character development. Not being a native speaker of Norwegian or Urdu languages does not deter you from being swept away in the intensity of this father-daughter relationship filled with a conflict of interest between love for the other and respect for their strict Pakistani culture.

Maria Mozhdah finds her breakout, debut role as Nisha, the daughter of Pakistani parents raising a family in Norway. Surrounded by a Westernized lifestyle, Nisha seemingly leads a normal life as a 16-year-old girl whose family treasures her obedience and high marks in school. Unbeknownst to her family, she starts to sneak out to party and spend time with her friends as a teenager tends to do; however, her double life comes to a head when her father (Adil Hussain, Life of Pi) catches Nisha with her boyfriend in her bedroom one night. Assuming the worst, he takes Nisha to Pakistan, his native land, against her will.

The shame and humiliation a family experiences when a child of theirs goes against the grain of what is socially acceptable in this culture is so unbearable that her father goes to extreme measures to punish her and ensure she will act morally from then on. Nisha is forced upon family members in a small, potentially unsafe town where she will have no option but to adapt to her foreign environment and question her identity as a Norwegian citizen with Pakistan blood. How can she love her family so much but then question entirely their methods of familial traditions? The entire film places each side on trial and juxtaposes two lifestyles that continue to conflict in almost every single way.

Some scenes were difficult to watch as I struggled to understand Nisha’s fear to speak out. Every time she attempts to speak her truth, she is continuously struck down so this fear eventually begins to take shape naturally. While the storyline is gripping in every sense, it is continuously visually-enthralling, coupled with the only music I could imagine to go along with it. The film’s score is the perfect lyric-less background that extracts intensity from the already “hold-your-breath” moments that Mozhdah’s performance creates. Her facial expressions communicate volumes that transverse any language without even utilizing words.

Theme-wise, the issue of women’s rights is a tricky one when it is culturally-acceptable to value arranged marriages and to grant a father permission to punish his daughter as he wishes, despite the technical unlawfulness. This film explores the avenues of a young women’s powerlessness when she is left without the right to have her own voice and speak up for herself. As immigrants in a foreign country, the family struggles to find the balance between enforcing their familial rules and allowing their daughter’s happiness to stem from a small taste of freedom. By the end of What Will People Say, you will be left aching for more while at the same time feeling entirely satisfied with the compromise found between loss and love.

• Audience Award – AFI Fest
• Audience Choice Prize – Les Arcs European Film Festival
• Winner, Audience Dragon Award – Göteborg International Film Festival
• Winner, Best Actor – Bif&st Bari International Film Festival
• Winner, Femme de Cinéma Award – Festival de Cinéma Européen des Arcs