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CAIRO TIME Send This Review to a Friend
Whatever the admission charge you pay to see “Cairo Time” is tantamount to saving money. In addition to seeing the exquisitely acted love story in the film, directed by Ruba Nadda, you get a fascinating if vicarious tour of the Egyptian city without taking an expensive trip. The atmosphere is so effectively captured, from the activity in the streets to the majesty of the pyramids, that one can consider Cairo a leading character.
As for the story itself, there is the pleasure of watching Patricia Clarkson, an actress with an extraordinary screen presence in every film in which she appears. Here she is Juliette, an editor of a fashion magazine and married to Mark (Tom McCamus), who works for the United Nations. When it turns out that he has to stay in Gaza longer than expected, he delegates his friend and security officer Tareq (Alexander Siddig) to look after Juliette.
Dangerous mistake. Tareq is a good looking guy, acted with simmering appeal by Siddig, who is smitten with Julliette. She in turn is increasingly lonely and bored, and when Tareq dutifully escorts her about the city, she is drawn closer and closer to his charm. Little things accent the growing problem. She is supposed to go to experience the pyramids with her husband, and going there with Tareq takes on the tone of a betrayal.
The beauty of the film, apart from its power as a travelogue, lies in the understatement of inwardly throbbing feelings. There is a point at which Juliette would like to become intimate with Tareq. Should she? Will she? Likewise, he feels the same way. But should he make a move that would betray his friend?
In some respects “Cairo Time” reminds me of “Mademoiselle Chambon,” the French love story marked by delicacy and subtlety. Nadda, who wrote “Cairo Time” as well as directed it, knows the value of understatement, as well as how to have the atmosphere of a city permeate the story being told. The result is a slowly-paced but engrossing tale enhanced by excellent acting that suggests so much more than what we see on the surface. An IFC Films release.
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