A Dinner Date

Mohamed Khan's 1981 Egyptian film follows Nawal, whose ex-husband will not leave her alone. She meets a hairdresser and marries him, and the former husband begins applying pressure to break the marriage. The subject is harassment that does not stop. The man exerts pressure without resorting to violence, hemming them in through business connections, neighbours and money; the narrative shows that encirclement step by step. Soad Hosny and Ahmed Zaki lead. Khan was among the leading figures of realist narrative in Egyptian cinema in the eighties, and city locations and everyday detail come forward. The close is hard. Who it's for: those who like classic Egyptian drama. Who it's not for: viewers for whom coercion and violence against a woman would sit heavily.