Yuni

Director Kamila Andini’s social drama is a light-hearted portrait of an Indonesian teenager as she struggles with an internal dilemma that forces her to choose between the traditions of her Islamic community; or freedom.

Yuni (Arawinda Kirana) is a bright high schooler and typical teenager who hangs out with friends, gossips about classmates, and stares at her phone – constantly. She lives in the Indonesian city of Serang with her grandmother while her parents work in the country’s capital, Jakarta. The end of high school is approaching and Yuni is exploring the possibility of university, an avenue which hinges on her achieving good enough grades and being lucky enough to secure a grant that helps fund her school fees. For most 16-year-old girls, the pressure of achieving excellent exam results while grappling with the usual pressures of high school, conformity, looking pretty, and fitting in would be hard enough, but young Indonesian girls like Yuni have even more to worry about.

Indonesia is the biggest Muslim-majority country in the world, meaning Yuni lives in a deeply traditional Islamic society. Before finishing high school, Yuni is faced with two marriage proposals; first from the parents of a young construction worker who feel Yuni would be perfect for their son, and secondly from a married, middle-aged man who offers a considerable financial sum to Yuni’s grandmother in the hope that this will help him secure a young, second wife. Yuni rejects both proposals, sending semi-seismic shockwaves through the community; Indonesian superstition dictates that refusing two proposals will curse an individual and they will never be married. 

Also vying for Yuni’s attention is Yoga (Kevin Ardilova), a younger classmate who watches her from a distance, longing for her to look up from her phone for long enough to notice him. The pair begin to bond when Yoga helps Yuni with her poetry homework, where the on-screen study of famous Indonesian poet Sapardi Djoko Damono is used to tastefully symbolise Yuni’s feelings throughout the film.

Arawinda Kirana’s central performance as Yuni carries the film with a presence and maturity that defies the fact that this is her screen debut. Kirana is at home with the typically teenage elements of Yuni – zoned in on her phone, playing with friends, fighting with classmates – but gracefully demands attention in the dramatic, light-on-dialogue scenes as Yuni approaches its conclusion. Kirana is peerless in Yuni, operating at a higher level than the supporting cast; Yuni’s encounters with Yoga can feel particularly jarring when Kirana’s screen partner is shifting, twitching, and near-on hyperventilating with comically over-the-top acting fit for a high school play. 

Director Kamila Andini’s Yuni explores one young girl’s internal conflict as she wrestles with the pressures of the Muslim tradition of arranged marriage while attempting to make up her own mind about which direction she wants her future to take. The film takes a light approach to tackle a heavy subject, sewing comedic mishaps and vibrant cinematography into the fabric of a story that reflects the reality of young women across the Muslim world. While never preaching to the audience, Andini ensures we understand just how hard Islamic customs can be on people like Yuni; the expectation of marriage – of agreeing to spend your life with someone – before you leave school, the carrot of financial reparation that can support your family for doing so, even the virginity tests that are reportedly going to be forced upon Yuni and her friends by her Islamic school as part of a government initiative.

While Yuni is ostensibly light-hearted, the message is clear. Women across the world are forced to make life-changing decisions – sometimes not even granted the luxury of being involved in the decision-making process – before they leave school, expected to be able to handle the mental toll that entering into a marriage with an unfamiliar partner at the behest of other people whilst leaving your own dreams and ambitions behind. As the film moves towards a conclusion, Yuni faces the suffocating dilemma that forces her to decide whether she will accept an offer of marriage, or risk the wrath foretold by her Islamic superstitions and go it alone.  That’s a lot to ask a 16-year-old to do.