Aquarium, The Egypt / Germany / France
2008, 111min.
Prod.: Gabriel Khoury, Script: Nasser Abdel-Rahmane, Yousry Nasrallah, Dir.: Yousry Nasrallah, Dir. of Phot.: Samir Bahsan, Compos.: Tamer Karawan, Prod. Design: Adel el-Maghraby, Sound: Ibrahim el-Desouki, Edit.: Mona Rabei
Cast: Amr Waked (Youssef), Hend Sabry (Leila), Menha Batraoui (Leila's Mother), Ahmed El Feshawy (Amr), Samah Anwar, Bassem Samra
Leila, 32 works as a radio host for the Night-time Secrets program. People call to her show to reveal their innermost secrets. She plays squash; she swims; sometimes she writes stories for children and sometimes goes out with her friend to discos. She lives with her mother and her brother. Youssef is an anesthetist. He is about 35. He works in a perfectly respectable private hospital in the morning and an illegal abortion clinic at night. His father is dying of cancer. Youssef likes to hear his patients’ delirium, just before they go into deep anesthesia. When they wake up, he tells them everything they have said. He also likes to listen to Leila’s radio program. Sometimes, he spends part of his night with a woman he likes, but he doesn’t love her enough to spend the whole night with her. He lives in his car.
Two characters, who do not know each other, but will meet. Their lives will not change much. They will simply realize how lonely they are…
Production Companies
MISR International Films, Egypt
Archipel 33 , France
Pandora Film, Germany
| Nasrallah, Yousry Yousry Nasrallah (born 1952, Cairo, Egypt)
Starting as a student in politics, Nasrallah moved to the Cairo Film School during the years of studentship. After a few years of work as a journalist in Lebanon, he became Youssef Chahine’s assistant on La mռmoire (1982), Adieu Bonaparte (1984) and Alexandrie, encore et toujours (1990) and was also co-screenwriter of the last two films. In 1987 he made his directing debut of a feature film, Vol d’ռtռ, selected for the Quinzaine des Rռalisateurs in Cannes the same year. In 2004 he adapted the novel by the Lebanese writer լlias Khoury La Porte du soleil also presented at the Cannes in the non-competitive official selection.
Filmography
Summer Thefts (Sarikat Sayfeya, 1988), Marcides (1993), On Boys, Girls and the Veil (Sobyan wa banat, 1995), The City (El Medina,1999), The Gate of Sun (Bab el shams, 2004), The Aquarium (Genenet al asmak, 2008)
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