‘Promised Sky’ review: Follow-up to ‘Under The Fig Trees’ opens Un Certain Regard

Dir: Erige Sehiri. France/Tunisia/Qatar. 2025. 95mins

Reflecting real events, Promised Sky follows three Ivorian women trying to make a fresh start for themselves as sub-Saharan migrants in Tunisia. The challenges they face are conveyed in an observant, involving drama that brings a sympathetic eye to those caught in limbo and hoping for a better future. Erige Sehiri’s polished third film casts a warm glow, and should engage arthouse audiences after opening Un Certain Regard.

A bittersweet celebration of endurance and sacrifice 

In her previous features, documentary The Railway Men (2018) and drama Under The Fig Trees (2021), Sehiri has sought to illuminate aspects of Tunisian life. Here, she has collaborated with co-screenwriters Anna Ciennik and Malika Cecil Louati to explore the experiences of migrants from the Ivory Coast, and has also employed a pleasing mixture of professional and non-professional actors.

Promised Sky starts with a moment of harmony, as three women work together for the benefit of four year-old Kenza (Estelle Kenza Dogbo), a shipwreck survivor. Little is known about the girl or the fate of her parents, and the women don’t trust the authorities to take proper care of the child. Now she lies in a bath of soapy bubbles, as the women wash, care and then clothe her. Marie (Aïssa Maiga) is a former journalist and pastor who has a residency permit after spending ten years in the country. Jolie (Laetitia Ky) has the protection of being a student. Naney (Debora Christelle Lobe Naney) survives on her wits, pursuing all kinds of money-making schemes, but her three years in Tunisia have yet to earn her any legal status. Her defiance is a strength of character. “I’m not here to go back,” she declares. ”I’m here to go forward.”

The women share accommodation that is both shelter and refuge. Marie is the senior member of the trio, and something of a mother figure in the local community. A leader in the the Church Of Perseverance, she dispenses food, medicine and nappies, wise words and sound advice. Her position seems the most secure of the trio, but even she is vulnerable in a country increasingly ill-disposed towards its migrant population. There is danger on the streets and wild prejudices. Claims that migrants are “eating people’s cats” has a familiar ring, A brutal police force seem inclined to arrest first and ask questions afterwards. Expulsions have become commonplace.

Cinematographer Frida Marzouk, who also shot Sehiri’s Under The Fig Trees, captures the beauty of Tunisia, from the pearlescent glow of the skies as day starts to fade to the periwinkle hue of seas that can prove so treacherous. Marie’s home is seen from a distance, the crumbling plasterwork speaking of fading grandeur. The images are attractive, but the reality is far from the promised land these three women have sought.

Sehiri shapes the story around the individual and collective challenges faced by the women. There is a recurring theme of mothers and daughters, as Jolie faces family pressures to return home to the Ivory Coast and Naney becomes increasingly aware of the precious time she has lost with the daughter she was forced to leave behind. Her promise that they will spend Christmas together has been frequently made but never fulfilled. Marie’s maternal instincts are stirred by Kenza, but she realises the impossibility of simply claiming the child as her own.

Connections are the hardest thing to maintain in their situation and yet, despite setbacks, the women are at their strongest when they care for each other and unite. Promised Sky becomes a bittersweet celebration of endurance and sacrifice with notable newcomer Debora Lobe Naney giving a winning performance as a vibrant spirit, determined to survive everything that life throws at her.