Capital Celluloid 2023 — Day 208: Fri Jul 28

Alexandria Again and Forever (Chahine, 1989): BFI Southbank, NFT1, 6.15pm


This screening is part of the Youssef Chahine season at BFI Southbank.

Chicago Reader review:
This dazzling 1989 instalment, the third of Egyptian director Youssef Chahine’s autobiographical Alexandria quartet, can be seen independently of the other two features; its writer-director stars as a famous filmmaker very much like himself, happily married but also smitten first with one of his young actors and then with a young actress he meets (Yousra). Yousra played Chahine’s wife in the second part of the trilogy, An Egyptian Story (1982), and the young actor in this film is based on Mohsen Mohiedine, who played Chahine as a young man in Alexandria, Why? Filmed in sumptuous color, this is not only one of the most passionate celebrations of bisexuality ever filmed, it’s also one of the funniest; Chahine’s tap-dance duet with his lead actor on a movie set is priceless.
Jonathan Rosenbaum

Here (and above) is the trailer.

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