Written by Jemima Khan
Starring Lily James, Shazad Latif, Shabana Azmi, and Emma Thompson
Distributed by StudioCanal
Would you let your parents choose a spouse for you? For many Westerners, the answer is a clear “No!” But the answer is not always so clear-cut for people from other cultures, as the new film, What’s Love Got to Do with It?, illustrates. When Kaz (Shazad Latif), a British-born Muslim of Pakistani descent, decides he wants his family to arrange a marriage for him, his lifelong best friend, Zoe (Lily James), is astonished. Zoe, a documentary filmmaker, is planning a film about Islamic honor killings, but shortly after Kaz tells her his intentions, she pitches her production company an alternative: a documentary about Kaz’s arranged marriage.
What’s Love Got to Do With It? uses this setup—especially the culture clash between Islamic and modern Western values—to explore the meaning of romantic love, the role of family in one’s life, and the requirements of a happy relationship.
Kaz’s backstory is a familiar one for many young people born into immigrant families in Western countries. Although his family members consider themselves modern (they are depicted as moderate Muslims who, for instance, don’t wear headscarves), they also are traditionalists in many ways. For example, they already have broken off contact with Kaz’s sister for marrying a non-Muslim. Kaz loves his family and shares many of their Islamic views, but he also embraces a modern Western lifestyle. His grandmother tells him not to “break all our hearts” by marrying a non-Muslim, and he remarks that he wants to find a partner who’s “British enough for me and Pakistani enough for my parents.” He struggles to pursue his own happiness while also fulfilling a supposed “duty” to conform to his family’s religious and cultural expectations.
Zoe’s situation is both similar and different. Having had a string of unsuccessful romances, she has largely given up on love (despite her mother constantly pushing her to find a boyfriend). She espouses the narrative that women shouldn’t need men to be happy, shouldn’t look for romantic partners, and should instead find all their fulfillment in their work. Yet, she is still continually disappointed when her friends’ and family’s romantic relationships fail. So, at the start of the story, in different ways, both characters have turned away from love.
After failing to find a partner in London whom Kaz will accept, his family finds him a young bride in Pakistan, and Zoe travels with them to attend and film the wedding. As the three-day ceremony proceeds, Kaz and Zoe gradually help each other identify some of the confusions that are undermining their happiness. Each faces a choice: Continue following contradictory motives, or be honest about their true feelings about themselves, their families, and each other.
The film portrays that choice with appropriate gravity. To achieve happiness, Kaz must challenge his self-sabotaging sense of duty and be honest both with his family and himself. Zoe, meanwhile, must face her reasons for having repeatedly pursued ill-suited partners, challenge her mother’s overbearing efforts to guide her life, and learn to open up to others.
Though the film is tender and sometimes painful, it is also funny in its lighter moments. The cheesy salesman-like matchmaker Kaz’s parents hire to help find him a bride (Asim Chaudhry) is hilarious, but his character also highlights the harmful aspects of traditional Muslim attitudes toward relationships.
Many of the older Muslim characters exemplify another harmful aspect of traditional Islamic ideas through their attitudes toward women. One striking example is when Kaz’s future mother-in-law tells his young bride not to smile too much during the first day of their wedding celebrations—prioritizing what others think of her over her own happiness. The film shows these everyday negative consequences of collectivism and secondhandedness with nuance and without opprobrium. It shows Kaz’s family not as cruel authoritarians but as well-meaning individuals who do finally begin to see how destructive their religious ideas and cultural customs have been to their children.
Real-life friends Lily James and Shazad Latif both excel in the lead roles, and Emma Thompson provides excellent comic relief as Zoe’s oblivious but enthusiastic mother Cath. All members of the cast deliver powerful performances that, together, make the film both impactful and entertaining.
What’s Love Got to Do With It? is well-written and refreshingly thoughtful, and it shows the crucial importance of honesty and independent thinking in achieving happiness. It is a sensitive yet incisive study of the clash between Islamic and Western cultures—and between collectivism and individualism—one that hopefully will help many young people born into traditionalist, immigrant families shed stifling beliefs and build confidence to achieve a flourishing life.
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