An Egyptian Story
An Egyptian Story (, translit. Hadduta masriyya) is a 1982 Egyptian drama film directed by Youssef Chahine. It was entered into the main competition at the 39th edition of the Venice Film Festival. Plot The film is essentially a fictional biography of a self-centred, chain-smoking, highly-strung, radical realist film-maker named Yehia Choukry Mourad. It opens with him having a heart attack while directing a film. He is convinced to go to London for diagnosis and, subsequently, a heart bypass. The day before the operation, he spends time with his chauffeur. The film was daring for implying a homosexual attraction between the two men. Homoerotic tension was created by knowing glances that are exchanged between Yehia and the taxi driver. Once Yehia is put under anaesthetic, the action shifts to a surreal, dreamlike court case held within Yehia's own chest cavity (the roof-beams of the court-room, for example, are Yehia's ribs). Yehia's inner child is on trial: feeling unloved by the adult Yehia, this child is attempting to kill Yehia. The child's witness stand comprises clear plastic tubes into which he drops white crystals, symbolising Yehia's arteries and the cholesterol that is choking them. As different witnesses speak during the chaotic