Solitaire (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Solitaire |
| Original title | Mahbas |
| Country of production | Lebanon , Jordan , Egypt |
| original language | Arabic |
| Publishing year | 2016 |
| length | 92 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Sophie Boutros |
| script | Sophie Boutros, Nadia Eliewat |
| production | Nadia Eliewat |
| music | Ziad Boutros |
| camera | Rachel Aoun |
| cut | Fadi Haddad |
| occupation | |
| |
Solitaire (original title: Mahbas ) is a Lebanese-Jordanian-Egyptian comedy film from 2016. The film is the directorial debut of Lebanese director Sophie Boutros , who also wrote the script together with producer Nadia Eliewat .
action
The Lebanese Ghada and the Syrian Samer, who met in Dubai , want to get engaged. The families of the lovers do not know each other so far, and so a meeting is scheduled in the house of Ghada's parents in a Lebanese nest of 2,000 souls, to which the urbanized Samers family travels. Because of the many animosities and secrets of those involved, the day turns into a chaos. Ghada's mother Thérèse has hated all Syrians since the death of her beloved brother Imad. Imad was killed by a Syrian bomb in the Lebanese civil war ; Since then, Thérèse has been conversing regularly with photos of him, and in these conversations he encourages her racism. Her husband Maurice, mayor of the village, knew about the Samers nationality and had been commissioned by his daughter Ghada to inform his wife about it, but did not have the courage to do so. Samer's mother Nazek despises Lebanese and was reluctant to travel to Lebanon. Prior to her relationship with Samer, Ghada had a relationship with the local Marwan, who still loves her and is determined to win her back; Samer initially knows nothing of this relationship.
The celebration begins stiffly as Thérèse quickly realizes that the family of her future son-in-law are Syrians. After a short time, however, she decides to appear friendly towards them, while at the same time, encouraged by her imaginary brother, forges a plan to prevent the engagement. For this she allies herself with Marwan, whom she invites to the celebration and who, supported by Thérèse, does everything to put Samer in a bad and himself in a good light. After a series of deliberate provocations, Samer loses his temper and knocks Marwan down. When, despite a slow change of heart on the part of Thérèse and Nazek, racist resentment broke out between the two women, the Syrian family, furious, left the party and moved into a hotel. As part of a subplot, it turns out that Maurice has a relationship with his secretary.
Through the grief of her daughter, Thérèse finally gains insight and successfully tries to mend the relationship between Ghada and Samer. In a symbolic act, she returns her wedding ring to her unfaithful husband. The film ends with the wedding of Ghada and Samer.
History of origin
Sophie Boutros previously only had experience as a director with making music videos. In 2013 she and Eliewat successfully applied for a support program for the Torino Film Lab. As part of this program, they took courses for aspiring scriptwriters and producers and developed the script for Solitaire over a period of two years . During this time, Boutros held a full-time administrative position at the American University in Dubai . Originally it was planned to make the film a short film, but the steadily growing script made the authors decide to put the story into a full-length film. The shooting took place in Lebanon and lasted two months. In addition to many young actors, four regional stars could also be won for the project: Julia Kassar , Bassam Kousa and Betty Taoutal , who were rather unknown outside the Arab world at the time the film was released, are well-known film and television actors in Lebanon and Syria, while Nadine Khoury is a well-known theater actress .
Premiere had Solitaire on 11 December 2016 at the Dubai International Film Festival . In March 2017 it was shown in Lebanese and Jordanian cinemas.
reception
The daily newspaper The National from Abu Dhabi praised the performance of Taoutal and especially Kassar. Reviewer Rob Garratt saw a steadily rising curve of tension and humor, which, however, decreased in the last third of the film, in which he drifted into melodrama. The Dubai-based daily Gulf News analyzed that Boutros carelessly "handled the web of relationships between its protagonists" and limited the political, non-humorous undertones to a few scenes in which statements could be interpreted as racist. The Gulf News also praised acting, but extended its praise to all leading actors who "fit like a glove" to their roles. The British Daily Mail , as part of a report on the film festival in Dubai based on statements from participants, pointed out that Solitaire on the one hand shows the current tensions in the relationship between Lebanese and Syrians, on the other hand it builds a bridge for the peoples, as the film focuses on the similarities between the People and their cultures. For the Jordanian news and media portal Al Bawaba , editor Arwad Khalifeh praised a "brilliant script" that combines a "wonderful sense of humor with just the right amount of emotionality".
Solitaire was shown at the Hamburg Film Festival in 2017 , where it was nominated for the Commerzbank Audience Award (sic), which has been awarded since 2004 . At the Malmö Arab Film Festival 2017 the film was awarded the audience award.
Web links
- Solitaire in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Trailer on YouTube
Individual evidence
- ↑ Vogue.me: How Sophie Boutros Became the Most Anticipated Arab Director at DIFF. Retrieved October 11, 2017 .
- ↑ JordanTimes.com: Humor used to explore Lebanese-Syrian tensions in 'Mahbas-Solitaire' film. Retrieved October 11, 2017 .
- ↑ a b TheNational.ae: World premiere review: Regional race tensions play out in Lebanese comedy Solitaire. Retrieved October 11, 2017 .
- ↑ GulfNews.com: 'Solitaire' goes beyond the diamond. Retrieved October 11, 2017 .
- ↑ DailyMail.co.uk: 'Solitaire' brings Lebanon-Syria tensions to big screen. Retrieved October 11, 2017 .
- ↑ AlBawaba.com: 'Solitaire' is the most beautiful Lebanese film you'll watch this year. Retrieved October 11, 2017 .
- ^ FilmfestHamburg.de: Solitaire. Retrieved October 11, 2017 .
- ↑ Press release of the Malmö Arab Film Festival. Retrieved October 11, 2017 . (via Facebook )