Plot, Summary & Review
Cairo Time is an exquisite feast for the eyes, ears and eventually, the heart. Ruba Nadda takes us on a tour of Cairo which flows so well because it appears complete even down to such minute details such as showing street children selling bobby pins, a wild motorcycle driver nearly hitting the film's heroine, and Egyptian hit songs playing on a taxi's radio. In contrast with the high energy scenes of Cairo's bustling city life are dreamy, beautifully composed shots of the city's classical architecture, the Egyptian pyramids and The White Desert, all which give the impression that they are frozen in time. But, the time in Cairo Time is hardly stagnant. The film's stunning images, rich music and moving love story about a bored workaholic Canadian married woman whose passion for love and life is awoken by her relationship with a Egyptian man interplay so beautifully that the film appears seamless. Patricia Clarkson (Juliette) and Alexander Siddig (Tareq) convincingly play a couple whose professional relationship transforms into a love relationship over time. Both actors show off their fine acting skills by expressing the characters' love for each other through their subtle uses of body language and eye contact. Each views the other as a kind of "forbidden fruit", yet neither one can hide their desire for the other. The quiet intensity of their passion is almost deafening. Cairo Time works because it does so well what many other contemporary films don't do. It takes you to another place and time, one of the main reasons we go to the movies.One would expect Cairo Time to be something out of the hackneyed “middle-aged lady travels to exotic location and has an affair that rejuvenates her life” genre. Luckily, it’s not that at all. Certainly it’s a romantic picture: cinematographer Luc Montpelier uses the hot Cairo daytime to good effect, offsetting large chunks of the film in a haze that accentuates the mutual attraction between Juliette and her husband’s friend Tareq. But it’s not a movie about a grand romantic adventure: it’s a movie about dealing with the gradual discomfort of not being home and how one deals with it—its chief emotion is restraint, not abandon. Juliette loves her husband and Tareq respects his friend; there is never a moment where the will-they-won’t-they battle is decisively won, one way or the other, until almost the very end. Patricia Clarkson as Juliette manages the rare trick of making a potential betrayal of a perfectly workable and solid marriage sympathetic, but Alexander Siddig as Tareq betters it—he adeptly captures every nuance of inner conflict. It’s just a staggeringly good performance, and it should make everybody wonder why Siddig doesn’t get more work. It’s a slight film in terms of plot, but as an actor’s showcase you can’t do much better.
Rating
6.7/10 ;474 votes
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