Philippe Faucon’s title character is a teenage girl of Algerian descent who lives with her large family in a cramped Marseilles apartment. When her father is hospitalized, her rabid older brother takes charge of the family and tries to clamp down on his sisters, who’re driving him crazy with their independence, their tight clothes, and their French contacts.

This fresh, intelligent film boasts a brisk, tough style that matches the personality of its heroine (the excellent Lynda Benahouda), who’s sick of being surrounded by jerks and isn’t afraid to let them all know it. And Faucon has a dry, no-comment way of letting the absurdities and contradictions of Samia’s life unfold, involving us with but not trapping us in her point of view. Stuck between the traditional culture of her family and the modern culture of France, Samia puts those who cross her on notice that if they would get out of her face, she would do just fine at negotiating her two worlds.