Director: Tarik Saleh

Stars: Fares Fares, Lyna Khoudri, Amr Waked, Ahmed Khairy, Zineb Triki, Suhaib Nashwan

The final instalment of writer-director Tarik Saleh’s ‘Cario Trilogy’, following ‘The Nile Hilton Incident’ and ‘Boy From Heaven’, is a handsomely mounted but flawed drama. George Fahmy (Fares) is one of Egypt’s most popular actors, playing heart-throb heroes in a series of daft Egyptian b-movies which frequently skirt the country’s Islamic censorship rules. The vain, divorced actor seems to be living an enviably glamourous lifestyle, unencumbered by his country’s oppressive regime, but there is an underlying dissatisfaction to George, evidenced by his awkward attempts to communicate with his son Ramy (Nashwan). During a date with his much younger actor girlfriend Donya (Khoudri), George is approached by a woman who questions him about his loyalty to the country and its military dictatorship ruler president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The liberal and broadly apolitical George gives a sarcastic response. Shortly after he is dropped from his latest project. His agent Fawzy (Khairy) informs his client that there is chance to redeem himself with the authorities, if he agrees to play the president in a biopic, a role the tall, good-looking, healthily coiffed Christian Coptic actor is comically unsuited too. He initially refuses and denunciations follow. When George eventually acquiesces, his life becomes even more complicated. This is initially a stylish and involving noir dealing with identity and moral compromise and boasts a brash but subtle performance from Fares, while director Saleh milks some tart laughs from the dark absurdity of George’s position. But midway the plotting becomes frustratingly unfocused, murky and cluttered, which, while in keeping with the noirish feel, renders the 130-minute running time a real challenge.

David Willoughby

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