What would one of Indonesia's most promising directors do when there are no taboos left in our culture to exploit? This weekend will see the premiere of Nia Dinata's latest film, Berbagi Suami (Sharing a Husband). This time Nia tackles the issue of poligamy, commonly practiced but often ignored.

The story follows the life of three women from different backgrounds culturally, socially, and economically but shared a similar life, having to share their respective husbands. Salma (Jajang C. Noer) was an ob-gyn struggling to keep her marriage afloat as her husband married another woman, a younger woman. Meanwhile Siti (Shanty) came to Jakarta from a little Javanese village for a better life. She lived in a small house with a family acquaintance who already had two wives and turned out to be interested in making Siti his third. A young woman of Chinese descent, Ming, has a different story. Everybody acknowledges the beauty that waits tables at Koh Abun's roast duck place, including Koh Abun himself, the owner. Even though the restaurant owner was old enough to be Ming's father, she accepted his proposal for the "security" he offered. But later on when her boyfriend became a movie director and offered her a starring role, she began to realize her own potential and desire of freedom. Neither Salma, Siti, nor Ming known each other nor ever met each other but in Jakarta's crowded public space they never realized that they're sharing the same problem.

The French co-produced movie is arguably Indonesia's first film to put poligamy in the spotlight. But coming from Nia, it is hardly eye-popping. Actually, the Indonesian public expects something controversial if Nia's name is on the billboard. Her last two feature films were about a concubine (Ca Bau Kan) and homosexuality (arisan!). Both were met with acclaim critically and by the public which was phenomenal especially with arisan! considering homosexuality's place in modern Indonesian society.