The Difficult Bride

In this highly distinctive psychological drama, Bangladeshi filmmaker Rubaiyat Hossain uses subtle elements of folklore and body horror to create a biting feminist critique of the beauty myth.

Zaineen reluctantly prepares for her wedding following a restrictive family set itinerary of beauty rituals and social functions. She rebels against these overbearing expectations, but starts to hallucinate, and finds strange marks on her body. The promise of her dream wedding becomes a nightmare.

“The recent rise of South Asian horror cinema is marked by several female directors and screenwriters taking to the genre to tell feminist stories… The Difficult Bride effectively uses body horror to dwell on the impossible ideals of beauty and propriety expected of a young bride in a patriarchal set-up.” — Namrata Joshi, Screen International