Absent

Dalal is a young woman living in a crowded Baghdad apartment with the childless aunt and uncle who raised her. In the same building Umm Mazin a fortune-teller offers her customers cures for their physical and romantic ailments Saad the hairdresser attends to a dwindling number of female customers and Ilham a nurse escapes the stark realities of her hospital job in dreams of her long-lost French mother. Despite the damaging effects of bombings and international sanctions on their world all the residents try to maintain normal lives.. Hoping to bring in much-needed cash by selling honey Dalals uncle becomes a beekeeper enlisting Dalals help in the care of these temperamental creatures. Meanwhile Dalal falls in love for the first timeagainst a background of surprise arrests personal betrayals and a crumbling social fabric that turns neighbors into informants.. Tightly crafted and full of vivid unforgettable characters Absent is a haunting portrait of life under restrictions the fragile emotional ties among family and friends and the resilience of the human spirit.