STRAWBERRIES (Cannes 2026) – Diane Carson reviews
Strawberries immerses viewers in seasonal workers’ lives
In its astute, straight-forward story, French-Moroccan director Laïla Marrakchi’s Strawberries/La Más Dulce does not break new ground on the personal and political victimization of migrant workers trapped in inequitable situations. But what Marrakchi does eloquently and compellingly achieve is immersing viewers in that world through a women’s community brought to life in a no-nonsense depiction of the multifaceted exploitation found there. Anchored in central protagonist Hasna Monjib (Nisrin Erradi), slowly and meticulously daily demands and unprincipled actions of those in power escalate into unbearable treatment. However, even with the off-site support of the Red Solidaria de Jornaleras, challenging or even speaking out against supervisors invites retaliation plus the surrender of one’s job and wages, most of that money usually sent to support families left behind in pursuit of a vanishing future.
Named for the fruit the workers pick, the film Strawberries reveals the women’s legal disempowerment in opening scenes. Required to provide their passport, family record book, blood test results, husband’s authorization, and proof of a clean criminal record, the women immediately recognize their secondary status. For Hasna and her friend Meriem (Hajar Graigaa), this will portend just the beginning of undignified, corrupt conditions. In the dorm in which the group of women workers live, there are no doors on the showers, breaks are short, all must pay for wifi and for a decent blanket if they want those relative necessities, phone cards are expensive, the women receive less pay than promised for their hours, and the heavy crates make bending and carrying them all day backbreaking. Sexual abuse results in one woman attempting a homemade abortion with pesticides. And when the drought takes its toll, there’s no work picking strawberries. Women then go to work cleaning rich people’s homes and rooms in hotels. In other words, these individuals work hard in inhumane circumstances.
As dire as the situation clearly is, writers Marrakchi and Delphine Agut avoid sensationalizing the content, preferring to present the emotional aspects in a more nuanced way, knowing the power of direct factual appeal. As the central character, Hasna maintains a strong presence most of time. Having left Morocco for southern Spain, her problematical background will eventually matter for, a former Taekwondo champion, Hasna has fight in her. There’s no doubt whom viewers are rooting for, but Strawberries makes its case in such a way that living with these seasonal workers for the film’s duration has an impact long after the end credits roll. In Moroccan and Spanish with English subtitles, Strawberries competed in the Un Certain Regard section of this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
