Halfaouine belongs to the classic coming-of-age genre, depicting the touchingly baffled response of puberty to first desire. Noura, a twelve-year-old boy, is at the crossroads of the separate worlds of men and women. Still young enough to go to the women's baths with his mother, he will soon be banished from this paradise of warm eroticism into the harsher world of men. His transition is aided by two compassionate young women, as well as by the rooftop terraces that link the separate households in the Halfaouine district. Director Férid Boughedir dares to unveil sexuality in Arab life with a joy and sensitivity that refuse to recognize the authority of taboo.