kikiteka

Same guy, same place, same characters, but different combinations. Same day? Maybe. Is this the same day in different combinations, or different days that show how utterly repetitive life is? There is room for debate there. If you've ever kept a diary over a period of years, then gone back to read them, the most shocking thing that many people find is not how much they've changed, but how much they haven't. You make similar decisions and similar mistakes. The situations are always slightly different, with some minor variable, but the results end up in the same place. This film is an examination of that idea. It's may not be for popular tastes, but it's good stuff, reminiscent of Eric Rohmer and the French New Wave.

I tried to understand why I liked this film, because I did, but I shouldn't have. I should have despised the characters and the storyline. I should have been offended by the notion that a woman would betray her decades old friend for a man. A man has reached adulthood and is still too frightened and weak to make his own choices. The resolution is neat, tidy, way too convenient and completely improbable. All of these factors should add up to me hating this film. But I didn't. I quite enjoyed it. It took a little reflection for me to understand why I liked it, but I finally realized it was because it reminded me of the old 1940's melodramas like Now,Voyager. Emotionally ridiculous, deus ex machina galore, it didn't matter, they were still great fun. I've wondered what those movies would be like if they were made today, and now I know.

This film is very much in the spirit of the classic, Noel Coward penned, "Brief Encounter". If you have seen that, you have an idea of what to expect in terms of relationship progression here! In other words it's about two very responsible people, who have an incredible chemistry, considering being not so responsible. While definitely owing a debt to Noel Coward, I think this stands on its own quite well. The improvement to the theme is in the setting. While much of Brief Encounter takes place in dreary train stations and sleepy English villages, this story takes place in a highly exotic and romanticized Egypt, which has the result of winding the viewer up quite a bit more...if you ask me.