Berbagi Suami (Love for Share / Partage ton Mari) Synopsis: Salma is a gynecologist who had questioned the morality behind the practice of polygamy and had secretly wished it wouldn’t happen to her own marriage. But, her wish remains just a wish… As a faithful Moslem, Salma accepts her fate to have a polygamous husband. Salma’s husband bears the title of “Pak Haji,” meaning a holy man who has gone through pilgrimage in Mecca and has an important religious contribution to the society. Salma knows that, as the first wife, she’s entitled for the higher status and therefore, she refuses to interact with the younger wives. She protects her household and her one and only son, Nadim. Salma shuts her world; she lives in denial. Until one day, her husband gets a heart attack and become bed ridden. Salma has to face the other wives on a regular basis since all the wives thrive to offer attention for the sick man. Salma can no longer protect herself and her son from the unfairness. Then, Salma begins to evaluate the meaning of her life as she witnesses the absurdity of her day-to-day drama. Siti is a Javanese village girl who has high hopes for a better life in the metropolitan city of Jakarta. Her dreams shattered once she realizes that living in the slum of the city in a polygamous household of her own uncle will not take her anywhere. The notion of three women living under one roof and serving one husband itself is constantly disturbing her mind. The only reason for her to survive is the growing intimacy with one of the other wives. Until one night, Siti has to help the other wife delivers her baby, without any help from a doctor or a mid-wife, while the master of the household barges in unannounced, stone drunk with a stranger girl hanging on his arm. The girl is introduced as his newly acquired fourth wife. His insensitive behavior and ignorance enrages Siti as the youngest wife. This urges her to explore the new possibility of freedom and choices in life. Ming is a waitress in a famous roast duck stall in downtown Jakarta. Her youth vitality and Chinese-Indonesian mixture of beauty stands out among the busy crowd. The cook, who also owns the stall, makes his daily preparation with the help of his wife and his favorite waitress, Ming. This Chinese-Indonesian man in his 40s can barely conceal his jealousy looking at Ming flirting with male patrons. The cook becomes one of the men who date Ming regularly. But he can’t stand the fact that he doesn’t win Ming’s exclusive attention. The competition gets even tougher when Ming dates a rookie filmmaker who promises her with a role in his first feature. Soon, we find out that Ming is willing to go a lot further to fulfill her ambitions of stardom, even to become a kept mistress… This is a movie about polygamy in modern Indonesia, the largest Moslem
country in the world. It is a film about three women from three different
social classes and ethnic backgrounds, conveying their passages in dealing
with polygamy: sharing a husband’s love and attention with several
other women. The film reveals their troubles and internal conflicts. In
their course of finding the answers to their problems, sometimes they
meet with each other without even realizing that they share a similar
story.
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