An Egyptian Story

Youssef Chahine's 1982 film is the second part of a series drawn from the director's own life. Yehia is now in his thirties and an established director; he has a heart attack during a shoot and is flown to England for surgery. The structure is built on the operating table. Under anaesthetic, Yehia's life is staged as a trial; his childhood, his family and his decisions are examined in turn, and the narrative does not separate the real from the imagined. Nour El-Sherif leads. Chahine tells his own past without decoration, letting failures, resentments and political compromises into the record. Musical passages are used inside the narrative. Who it's for: those who like Chahine's cinema and autobiographical films. Who it's not for: people who have not seen the first film in the series; the narrative assumes you know what came before.