52 Films by Women Vol 9. 32. Sink (Director: Zain Duraie)

Pictured: Basil (Mohammad Nizar, left) and his mother, Nadia (Clara Khoury, right) enjoy a moment of calm in the Jordanian mental health drama, 'Sink', written and directed by Zain Duraie. Still courtesy of Unifrance (France) / London Film Festival (UK)

I don’t know anyone immediately requesting films made by women about families coping with teenagers with troubling mental health conditions but two have arrived at once. Sink (Gharaq), the debut feature film from Jordanian writer-director Zain Duraie, charts a mother’s attempt to deal with her eldest son’s mental collapse without the aid of medical diagnosis. As with Sophy Romvari’s Blue Heron, a lot of the action takes place in the home. Here, the teenager, Basil (Mohammad Nizar) struggles with the pressure of his upcoming exams, although it is suggested that he was a loner long before his classroom blow-up. During a lesson, he describes a medical procedure, reading from index cards at a fast pace while pointing to his slides. He’s less instructive than trying to purge himself of the assignment. When the teacher tells him to stop, Basil does so. Then the teacher writes in his book. His parents are subsequently summoned by the school principal. The teenager has been suspended.

When we first meet Basil, he is out swimming with his mother, Nadia (Clara Khoury). Duraie positions Nadia with her back to the camera sitting on the edge of the pool, her feet in the water. Basil swims towards her in as she dives in. He clings to the side and stares forward at us, breathing heavily. He has a faintly disturbed look, one with which we become all too familiar.

Basil appears to be a happy child, boisterous, responding to music. However, he is asocial. While Nadia’s daughter complains of not having a packed lunch – ‘I didn’t buy bread’, Nadia explains, ‘please forgive me’ – Basil says nothing. The middle child Amer excels at basketball and has friends. He isn’t as studious as Basil, who also goofs. Basil’s nickname for his sister is ‘monkey’. He allows the young girl to apply make up to his face. However, when Basil snaps, he has only his mother to support him. ‘I didn’t hit the teacher deliberately,’ he explains. While Nadia believes him, his father, who spends time away from the home at an unspecified job, is more sceptical, though complaining that the school should have protected Basil.

Nadia has an office job and, as Basil’s exclusion develops, takes time off to be with him. Basil’s behaviour has a ripple effect. The parents of Amer’s friend, Samer, won’t let their child spend time at Amer’s house. Basil is described as a negative influence. ‘We won’t see them [Samer’s parents] again,’ concludes Basil’s father on the drive back. We are unsure how erratic Basil can be until we witness his tendency to go too far.

Amer has a basketball game. The family plead with Basil to attend. ‘You can study there,’ his sister tells him. Basil refuses. ‘I can only study at home,’ he explains. However, he is overcome by hyperactivity. This manifests itself in two scenes, first when he mimes creatures in a game of charades with his siblings, standing very still before declaring that he is a monster, tickling his sister. Second when he is at a restaurant with his mother. Basil is calm at first as his mother explains that Basil’s father brought her there previously. Then when a fizzing birthday cake passes the table, Nadia asks if he wants to leave. Basil is apparently content. The pair are invited to join the party. Basil dances with his mother. However, his behaviour becomes more violent, his dancing frantic rather than joyous, movement stimulating further movement, like a train unable to stop. Nadia releases herself from his grasp as he dances on his own. Then he disappears. Nadia leaves the party and looks for him whilst driving. She gets out of the car and calls to him, but he does not respond. He clambers over a wall and enters a public park, climbing on a swing. Nadia catches up with him as he climbs into a pipe. ‘Why did you not take me here when I was a child?’ he asks. ‘You did not like these places,’ Nadia replies. Basil spies some chickens in a coop, resolving to free them as he reaches through a hole in the fence. Nadia pulls him away. Basil shrugs her off. Then Nadia starts clucking like a chicken. Basil joins in. She has reached him by sinking to his level, one interpretation of the film’s title. The pair end up smearing each other with wet sand (or mud) and driving home.

We see a phone-shaped video image. ‘I liked your picture with Basil,’ says father, holidaying with the two other children. However, Basil becomes increasingly more manic, placing an animal face mask on his mother while wearing a donkey mask himself. Basil brays and sways from side to side, ever faster. Nadia tries to remove the mask, but Basil pulls it back over her face, having pushed her back into her seat. We wonder if his behaviour will become sexual, hence the mask – so he can forget it is his mother. However, he is prepared to lose himself in repetitive movement - his own personal amusement. Nadia escapes and tries to call for help. Basil throws the phone receiver against the wall and ejects Nadia from the house.

Nadia sits on the steps hoping for her son to calm down. Then the lights outside the house illuminate. Nadia leaves and goes to a bar, where she drinks a glass of wine as a group of men enjoy a boisterous drink behind her. Nadia smiles. Men on a night out in a socially acceptable manner. If only her son could behave in that way.

In the meantime, Basil opens the house door and the door to the street – the house is well-protected, ensuring privacy inside. No trace of his mother. He leaves the door open for her return. Nadia’s husband and the other children return soon afterwards.

At one point, Basil climbs onto the roof and stands in contemplation. Will he kill himself? He does not do so. ‘Why don’t you have a gap year?’ Nadia suggests. ‘I just want to pass my exams,’ Basil replies. Nadia puts up a wall calendar for November and asks Basil to tell her the dates of his exams. The scene mirrors the composition of an earlier scene, foregrounding the wall, the camera being at an angle. Here, Duraie and her cinematographer Faroukh Laâridh emphasise enclosure – a barrier. It is the antithesis of promise.

Basil’s behaviour descends into self-harm, banging his head against the wall. He draws a thick circle on his school textbook. He and his mother watch a medical video showing heart surgery – never an easy thing to watch. ‘I’m going to be a heart surgeon,’ he announces unconvincingly.

Nadia wants to take Basil to see a specialist. Basil refuses to go. Basil’s father goes to see the doctor in an attempt to secure a house call. ‘They won’t do anything without seeing him,’ it is explained.

Once again Nadia is left alone in the house with Basil. She brings him some food. Basil does not acknowledge her. Nadia puts a fork in some rice and eats it. Basil snatches the tray of food and starts to wolf it down faster than necessary, as if by consuming it he can shoo his mother away. He then starts to choke. ‘What did you put in my food?’ he asks. He then pushes Nadia onto his bed and places his hands around her neck, threatening to strangle her. The respite that mother and son had whilst swimming seems far away.

Eventually we hear sirens outside the house. The emergency services arrive. Basil leaves the house and sits down in the ambulance. He called them himself. Mother and son face one another inside the ambulance.

Mental illness is something of a taboo in Middle Eastern countries. It is brave for Duraie to tackle it head on. She doesn’t make Sink a film about mental illness being a route to radicalisation or criminality, rather as a symptom of societal stress, the point at which an individual feels they cannot confirm but have no release valve – no sport, art, or outlet involving people. Duraie does not hint at a support network. Mental health lapses are treated as a mark of character. The film asks for that idea to be reconsidered. It took courage for Basil to refer himself as a threat to others. He unmasked himself voluntarily.

Reviewed at Screen Six, Picturehouse Central, Shaftesbury Avenue, Central London, Wednesday 15 October 2025, 08:35am, London Film Festival Press and Industry Screening