[ethereal music]
♪ ♪
- [speaking Arabic]
AUTOMATED VOICE: [speaking Arabic]
DENA: I couldn't get out of the car,
like I was stuck or something,
even though this is everything
that I've been, like, looking forward to.
I've been putting all of my focus onto it.
- And how do you feel about the virginity?
- I--I used to have nightmares
about having sex all the time. [clears throat]
And then when I finally did it a few years ago,
a part of me felt so much shame.
This idea of being perfect was gone.
And then there was also this other part of me
that realized that I had never
really felt my body.
It was like something opened up in me,
and I--oh, my gosh, it was just--
I could--that sexual feeling just made me feel like a woman,
which I always wanted.
I didn't--I don't even know how to describe it.
It was just a feeling inside.
Like, I started making my own decisions
and felt this kind of different power.
And I really felt like I knew myself better
even if I didn't love every part of me.
I don't even think that I came ever,
but it doesn't even matter.
- I meant his virginity.
You took his virginity, right?
- Oh.
Yeah, um, he was really traumatized by that. I feel--
- I'm not interested in his trauma.
This is about you and how you feel in your body.
Reconnecting to your body.
Do you agree brown cultures
have emotional relationships with food?
- What?
- I've found that there's an emphasis in brown culture
on the acceptance as food as a form of love
while also a criticism of those who gain weight.
Did you feel like your body was ridiculed by your family?
- Um...
I don't really feel comfortable or, like--
- Talking about this with a white woman?
- I was actually gonna say something else,
but yeah, that.
KENDRA: This work isn't about exposing your family.
This will serve your family.
- [clears throat]
When I was seven, my grandma told me
she'd get me a nose job at 16.
- And did you? DENA: No.
She died when I was 14.
KENDRA: I think you should join group.
Usually, I like to have more one-on-one time
with people, but I think I could integrate you
into tomorrow's session.
- Uh, well,
see, my dad's in Egypt right now,
and I'm supposed to be helping my mom--
- Bring her.
- To--to group?
- The group would love to have a mother there.
- I don't-- - It is so rare
that we get to explore pain with those who inflicted it.
I think this is a great opportunity for you,
for both of you,
especially with all of this emotional abuse.
- Emotional abuse?
- Everything you've told me about your family
is emotionally abusive.
Have you never thought of that?
- I thought...
we were just Arab.
- "I thought I was just Arab."
Wow.
That's great work.
[upbeat music]
♪ ♪
- You're smoking in the house now?
MAYSA: Dena, it's not a political rally, okay?
Biden won long time ago.
That's it. Khalas!
- You're the one who wanted to quit.
- It's not easy to quit, okay?
I will quit in the summer. It's easier.
DENA: Okay.
I wanted to talk to you about something.
MAYSA: Talk. Yalla. I have to lift.
- Okay, uh, I wanted to know
if maybe you would come to therapy with me.
Like, together.
- Therapy? DENA: Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I'm seeing this new therapist,
and they think that it would be helpful to meet you
as part of my work. - Oh, it's work. [speaking Arabic]
So, like, you represent this therapist in court?
And, uh, like, how can I help?
What did he do? Like, he touched someone?
- No, no, no, no, this is not part of my law work.
It's part of my therapy work.
My healing.
You know, like, my mental health.
We have God, Dena.
- God isn't a therapist, Mom.
- What are you doing there?
You just go and report how terrible your mom is,
how bad your parents are? Like, what--
You're just, like, giving our secrets out
to a random person to put them in a folder?
DENA: No-- - Is that how we raised you?
- I'm not telling on you.
I need help,
and I really think you do too.
- I don't need anything.
I love my life. I am very happy in my life.
Have you seen the show The Real Housewives of New Jersey?
These women drink and cheat.
Their husbands are murderers. Murder, Dena.
I mean, these guys need therapy.
Like, you wanna put me there with them?
I raised you up, both of you, you and your brother,
and then I went to work.
Now, tell me, do you know any other woman on Earth
raised two kids and then they started to work after?
I am the real Real Housewife of New Jersey.
- [speaking Arabic]
I was thinking maybe you wanna give them a try?
DENA: Are those mushrooms, Shadi?
- Yeah, I know it's unconventional, and...
One trip really changed everything.
I understand.
I thought maybe you could use a little bit of help.
- What the fuck is wrong with you?
Drugs? Therapy? What?
What do you need help for?
- You are emotionally abusing me, Mom.
- What the fuck?
- That's what my therapist said.
- That's because he heard only your side of the story, okay?
[pensive music]
♪ ♪
- [speaking Arabic]
- No.
[ethereal music]
♪ ♪
MAYSA: You see, he keeps saying
that he's a businessman,
but there's no business happening,
and I'm the one really doing all the work here.
This is not what we agreed on.
In the beginning,
there was love, there was passion,
but now stubbornness. only stubbornness,
Like, he's so stubborn.
I say, "Farouk, let's do something together."
And he goes, "I am watching something on YouTube.com."
DENA: Okay, but, Mom, also,
you don't always communicate that clearly.
And when you--when you try to, it comes off really aggressive.
I'm fucking trying to say something here.
- Yes, yes, Dena, Dena, please, give us a moment.
- Sorry, I thought we were both sharing--
- Maysa, I would like to know more
about your life before him.
Did you experience these power struggle dynamics
in your previous relationships?
- Listen, I'm not a whore. Okay?
Like, no previous relationships.
Us, in our culture, we pick only one man.
- Mm.
And you said that he lied to you
about losing a job?
You never considered divorce?
- [speaking Arabic]
KENDRA: I'm curious.
You speak of your husband like some speak of a father.
What was your relationship like with your father?
- I'm not going to sit here,
tell you everything about my life
or my father or my husband.
Listen, they're good men. You don't know them.
I am here because my daughter said
that I abuse of her,
and I'm here because I want to tell her
that I don't abuse. Okay, Dena?
What did I do to you? Did I hit you?
Did I do anything bad to you? Like--
you don't know anything, right? You just met her.
We speak five minutes, and you say divorce?
[speaking Arabic]
I am a Palestinian woman,
and you don't fucking know what I went through.
Okay? When we have problems, we just figure them out.
We don't walk away like if we don't have any family.
Not like you people. Let's go.
I'm done.
KENDRA: No, no, no. Stay. Please.
We'll work through this later in the role-play.
Yalla.
But for free.
Huh?
- Nabawy.
[speaking Arabic]
Nabawy.
- [whistling]
Shereen!
- Hi.
[speaking Arabic]
- [speaking Arabic]
- Hmm?
- No.
- Oh.
Okay.
Insha'allah.
[line trilling]
PERSON: Thank you for calling 1-800-DIVORCE-HIM,
here for all your divorce needs.
We'll now be connecting you to a divorce specialist.
SINGER: ♪ When you're sick and tired of fighting ♪
♪ And you want to take his house, call 1-- ♪
SPECIALIST: Hello, how may I help you end things today?
- Hello? Uh...
SPECIALIST: Who do I have-- [phone clicks shut]
- Hi. - 'Sup?
Marlboro Red, please.
CASHIER: Oh, we don't cig here. Just vapes.
- This is a smoke shop.
- Digital smoke.
- Fuck. CASHIER: You seem pressed.
You wanna try CBD?
- Actually, do you have crack? CASHIER: What?
MAYSA: You're just like my nephew.
Everyone wants me to do drugs
and just, like, forget about things
and quit, maybe, about my life.
I mean, maybe I should try crack,
and then I can go to prison
and rap about it and become successful
in this fucking country.
This is what everyone likes here, right?
This is how people become rich.
- You worried about money?
- I put everything in my life into my daughter,
and I think she hates me.
- You know, you remind me of my mom
energy-wise.
Hardworking, immigrant vibes.
We had the same kind of relationship.
- Do you hate her?
- Yeah.
Here, tobacco.
It's on the house.
I'm giving you some cartridges too.
- Thank you.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
[knocking]
- [speaking Arabic]
[person crying]
[person screaming]
- So, uh...
KENDRA: Since Maysa isn't here,
I will have Jessica play your mom.
Mikey, please,
play her father, and let's all think about what we heard
in their session this morning and use that as inspiration.
Remember, when we revisit and revise,
we what? ALL: Find healing.
KENDRA: Find healing, thank you.
- Sorry, do we have to do it with, um, a real cigarette?
- Dena, lean in.
This is your mother.
- Yeah, no--okay. Okay.
Um...
please, can you stop smoking?
- [with Indian accent] Dena, I am Mommy.
Don't tell me what to do.
I tell you what to do.
- Nice, nice. Good listening.
- Sorry, um, that's not my mom's accent--
- Don't you be critical of how I am talking.
I am a strong Palestinian woman.
- Okay, it's a bit of an Indian accent.
- I am your mother. Listen to me, chaiwala.
- It's the energy, not the voice.
Surrender.
- [whispering] Palestine.
- Um...
I am really afraid that you keep smoking--
- [as Borat] I am home, your father!
Jagshemash! My wife.
She didn't make food.
Why you don't cook for me?
My daughter don't cook for me.
- Yes, she is very bad.
MIKEY: My wife say you don't listen.
Daughter who don't listen to her mother?
Wah-wah-wee-wah! - Nice.
Jessica, call her a whore.
- You're a whore.
- Wah-wah-wee-wah.
You not virgin? Jagshemash!
I pray for this never happen.
What our family shame gonna be?
Is gonna be death.
- The whole village cries.
- Before you going to do this, talk to your mother.
You don't go run around. [smacks lips]
You talk to your family.
We support you be whore.
[ethereal music]
♪ ♪
- I think so.
- Yeah.
[both speaking Arabic]
- Good to see you again.
DENA: Hey. I was waiting for a bit.
I was, um, about to leave, but I'm--
I'm happy that I'm seeing you, yeah.
I just wanted to say that I'm sorry.
It's been really hard for me. It's a hard time.
Like, it feels like my family's falling apart,
and I'm just in the middle of everything
all the time.
Like, they dump everything on me,
but they won't even listen to me.
And I feel like I'm just this idea
of what a daughter should be.
I don't--I don't even know who I am.
You know, like, I don't feel like I'm in control sometimes,
and, like, I skipped the biggest exam of my life
because I was so fucking pissed.
Just pissed at how I--I can't even help people, you know?
Being a lawyer, it feels like I wouldn't even help anyone.
I don't know, I just--
sometimes I don't know what I believe.
But I--I really wanna feel like I'm doing something special.
Something that's mine,
not just something put on me.
[sighs]
I'm just sorry.
Uh, when I saw you, I really wasn't thinking about you.
I just--I wanted what I wanted.
- Moshin thinks you raped me.
- What?
- I told him I don't think it was rape
because I invited you over.
- That technically doesn't mean it's not.
But still, I--like, I didn't.
- I saw how you are with your mother.
She's a bit much, but you act like a baby.
In this dunya, none of us have any control,
but we can make good choices.
My parents don't agree with everything in my life.
But I stand up to them.
- It is so different.
You're a guy.
- Yes, but you are more convincing
than any guy I've ever met.
I think you could convince anyone of anything.
- Could I convince you to get something to eat?
AUTOMATED VOICE: You may hang up or press one
for more options. [line beeps]
Okay?
I love you.
Bye.
- Mm.
Feminist.
- Yalla.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
SINGER: [singing in Arabic]
♪ ♪