Cathardincu
Surprisingly incoherent and boring
Blucher
One of the worst movies I've ever seen
Bergorks
If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.
Fleur
Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
fanbaz-549-872209
The director and writer of Raja is the son of French film icon Jane Birkin. OK. The plot. Fred is loaded and lives alone in a house with two old cooks in Morocco. That is all we know about him. No friends. No family. Nothing. One day he gives a bunch of local girls a job in his garden. They all have been problem girls. Raja was a hooker because she was an orphan. Her brother is her pimp. Fred gets hot for Raja who does not get hot for Fred. Raja has a boyfriend. Raja does not speak French, which is unusual for young Moroccans. I have been. I know. And Fred speaks zero Moroccan, which is also unusual. From the state of the garden Fred has been there quite a while. That's it. Fred, by the way, does not know Raja was a hooker when he gets hot for her. This happens later. So the great day comes. His lust is satisfied and while both talk to each other in languages the other does not understand, it all goes horribly wrong. Pascal Greggory does his best to give credibility to Fred and I give him full marks for effort. But Fred is not credible. Nor is the story. I have seldom seen a film as pointless. I wonder what Jane Birkin thinks?
bernice-denison
I was channel surfing (the whole four on commercial TV) and Raja was on late on SBS. At first I thought I was too tied to read the subtitles and watch the film but something hooked me. Not only was Fredrick an older man but it's the cross cultural thing. Fred was smitten with Raja and he would have taken her away from her abysmal life with her pimp boyfriend Youssef and loved her unconditionally. I didn't feel the movie was too long, if anything I wanted to know more after Fred gave all his money to Youssef to pay for his marriage to Raja. The marriage you know was never going to happen. I had never heard of Pascal Greggory before and I don't know why maybe because he's French? I think he did a fantastic job in the roll of Federick - He leaves me wanting to know more about him and his acting because even without the translation he came across as a brilliant actor.
eleniake
This movie is too drawn out. Also for a French movie it is quite disappointing since there is no nudity, etc. The main actress who played Raja is also not even average looking (I really don't want to use the U word but it would not have been inaccurate). For Frederick to fall for her, he must have been really hard up especially considering there are many other local girls a rich man like him can certainly have.The movie tries to portray Frederick as being lonely but still have plenty of libido. If that's the case he should visit the local nightclubs, etc. I am sure he can certainly find many more attractive young locals there.If you want to watch a "Old man, Young woman" film, there are many better ones. Try American Beauty, Carried Away, Twilight of Love, etc.
mtoumba
After more then 20 years of continuous work French filmmaker Jacques Doillon still manages to polarize his audience. He is whirling where others rather stay quiet and the spectator either reacts with open indignation or enthusiasm (check the other comments!!!).This is also true for his movie "Raja" that is settled in Morocco. It's the story of a young woman called Raja that works in the garden of a rich Frenchman. The landowner is suffering from his solitude after leaving back a broken marriage in Paris. After spotting the girl working outside he is approaching her, for Raja a chance to escape a life in poverty. Between the two develops a strained relationship in which power, reward, love and hate is negotiated after rules that transport Doillon's astonishing analysis over topics like prostitution and post-colonialism. An incredible wise film, brilliant in acting and precise in dialog. Touching.
