In Basma, when the titular character returns home to Jeddah, she finds out about her father’s problems that her family has been hiding from her. The film is streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
Basma is studying environmental engineering in the US. Due to the pandemic, she has not been home to Jeddah for two years.
When Basma finally goes home for the holidays, she is happy to see her family, but that happiness is short-lived because she finds out that her parents divorced in her absence.
Additionally, her parents do not live in the same house anymore. Her father, Adly, is now living in their old house, and no one informed Basma about any of it.
Her mother and brother, Waleed, did not tell her anything because they did not want to distract her from her studies.
Basma goes to meet her father, but he does not open his apartment door. Later that night, he shows up to celebrate Eid with his entire family.
Adly does not get along with his older brother, who insists that Adly take medication for his mental illness. Adly does not stay long because of his brother.
Basma leaves with him and discovers that his apartment is a mess; her father has still not made it a proper living space, even though he has been living there for some time.
Basma does not like the idea of her father living alone. She disapproves of her mother for forcing her father to take medication and divorcing him when he refused and things got hard.
The next day, Basma moves in with her father, refusing to leave him on his own like the rest of the family. She tries to be a good daughter and take care of him.
She starts by cleaning up his house. Adly suffers from paranoid delusions, but Basma does not call him sick or ask him to take medication.
Adly rejects his son’s help, believing that he sends food to him as charity. However, he does not reject Basma’s help because she listens to him.
Basma is patient with him, even when he acts out wherever she takes him. She also continues trying to make his house pleasant.
With Basma in the house, Adly starts smiling more. He lets her make changes to his house, even when he is not comfortable with them.
There are times when Adly’s illness causes him to be more aggressive, and Basma does not fail to take note of these moments.
However, she still believes that her father is doing better than before. Adly even invites Waleed and his family for a meal.
Unlike Basma, Waleed does not think that their father’s condition is stable. He fears that Adly might snap anytime.
Ending explained:
Adly’s breakdown
One day, Basma goes to a party with her friends. Before leaving, she tears the newspapers that her father uses to cover a window in his living room.
When she returns home the next morning, she sees her clothes thrown over the curb outside the building.
Inside the apartment, she sees her father furiously trying to cover the window, tearing pages from books to do so.
Adly’s hatred for his brother makes him see his brother in a tree outside the window. Believing that the tree wants to see him at his worst, he covers the window.
Basma tries to talk to him, but he accuses her of being a narcissist, living with him only to show the world that she is a good daughter taking care of her sick father.
He is angry with her for not coming to see him for two years. Basma tells him that she wanted to come but could not.
When Adly breaks down, Basma assures him that she is still proud of him, but her words do not help, and Adly breaks the window in anger.
This leads to Basma getting hurt as well as the police showing up. Basma lies to the police; she tells them that everything is fine to make them leave.
Adly then admits to Basma that his house is dangerous, a sentiment echoed by Waleed earlier, and takes her to Waleed’s house.
The time away from her father
Waleed offers to let Basma stay with him for a while, but Basma has an interview for the PhD program she wants to pursue and needs to prepare for it.
When Basma questions her brother about avoiding their father despite knowing that their father needs them, Waleed confesses that he is scared of being around their father.
Basma takes her brother’s suggestion and moves in with her mother, but the next few days are not easy for her because she worries about her father.
Basma prepares for the interview and spends some time with her best friend, Malik, whose marriage proposal she rejected a few years ago.
She explains to Malik that she turned down his proposal because she felt like he only wanted to marry her because they were both single, not because he truly wanted to.
However, Malik wants to marry her. The way he proposed in the past was meant to be funny, but it did not come across as that. They clear up misunderstandings.
It becomes evident that they both like each other. Malik knows that pursuing a PhD is Basma’s dream, and he does not intend to stand in her way.
Basma’s outlook changes
Basma goes to visit her father, only to find him unconscious. She rushes him to the hospital, where the rest of the family decides to start his treatment for his mental illness.
Basma protests, knowing her father opposes treatment. It is her uncle who helps her understand how her father’s illness has driven him away from everyone.
He missed important family events and later felt isolated as a result. Contrary to Basma’s beliefs, his family never pushed him away because of his sickness.
Her father has always been sick, trapped in his own thoughts, which also kept him away from his work.
Basma’s mother had wanted to divorce him right after Waleed got married, but she waited for Basma to graduate and become independent, sacrificing her own happiness for Basma’s dreams.
With this new understanding, Basma agrees to get him treated. She learns that she cannot change the people she loves, so she must change the situation she hates and herself.
Basma continues visiting her unconscious father in the hospital. Her relationship with her mother improves, as she no longer blames her for the divorce.
Before leaving for the US to pursue her PhD, Basma covers up the window in her father’s apartment.
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