A bittersweet Egyptian film about an eight-year-old maid, clinging to her innocence amid class struggle.

Every year, Barnard College’s Athena Center partners with Women and Hollywood to host the Athena Film Festival, an on-campus event highlighting films that contain a woman (or women) protagonist and advance women’s leadership. This weekend, I celebrated the end of midterms by seeing Happy Birthday, an Egyptian narrative film by Sarah Goher. Happy Birthday tells the story of eight-year-old maid Toha, whose naivety brings her face-to-face with classism in modern-day Cairo.

At the start of the film, we learn that Toha has a very close relationship with the wealthy family she works for, especially their daughter Nelly. On Nelly’s birthday, Toha wakes up early to help her make party invitations while her mother and grandmother are asleep, and, when they wake up to tell Nelly there is no party, Toha begs until they change their minds. While Nelly is at school, Toha excitedly spends the day shopping, unpacking moving boxes, and decorating the house in preparation for the party. Even though Nelly’s mother, Laila, tells Toha that only biological family is “forever,” hinting at the transience of their inter-class relationship, Toha views Nelly as a sister and goes to great lengths to provide her the best day ever.

Nonetheless, Nelly’s family insists that their social circles remain separate. Unbeknownst to Toha, Laila calls her sister to come pick her up before the party. To Laila and her mother, the maid’s presence (especially given her young age) would’ve been a major attack on their family’s reputation.

On Toha’s return home, we catch a glimpse of life on the other side of the class divide. She and her sister take an overcrowded bus out of her employer’s gated neighborhood—marked by shiny cars and sprawling, beautifully-manicured lawns—to a tiny, two-room shack on the Nile River. There, their family catches fish to then sell on the street—a laborious process that Nelly’s birthday party would’ve provided the perfect escape from.

So, the film ends with Toha hopping on a tuk-tuk and sneaking in. She reunites with Nelly and immediately steals the dancefloor. Girl’s. Got. Moves. Unfortunately, however, she does not get the happy ending she deserves. Inevitably, she is discovered by Nelly’s grandmother and shunned inside until her mother comes to pick her up. On the bus, she tearfully makes a wish (presumably, for a more privileged life) before blowing out the candles on the leftover cake she’s been sent home with.

As heartbreaking as it was, I really enjoyed Happy Birthday. Toha, brimming with affection and wide-eyed wonder, was a beautiful character to get to know. I think Goher did an incredible job of showcasing her humanity, and that of domestic workers more generally, while simultaneously confronting issues surrounding labor and class struggle in modern society. If it’s anything like Happy Birthday, I look forward to seeing more of Goher’s work.

Header via Athena Film Festival