Across the sea

Across the Sea, originally titled La mer au loin, is a 2024 romantic drama written and directed by the Franco-Moroccan filmmaker Saïd Hamich Benlarbi. A co-production of France, Morocco, Belgium, and Qatar, it stars Ayoub Gretaa, Anna Mouglalis, and Grégoire Colin, with dialogue in French and Arabic.

Told as a triptych in which each chapter bears the name of one of its three protagonists, the film follows the love triangle between Nour, a young man who arrived in Marseille as an illegal immigrant from Morocco in the 1990s; Serge, a closeted bisexual police officer who helps Nour build a stable life rather than arresting him; and Noémie, Serge's wife, who after years of silently enduring his affairs begins one with Nour. Indirectly inspired by the director's own childhood move from Morocco to France, the film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2024 and opened in French cinemas in February 2025.