Between Heaven and Earth

The account is set in Cairo. It is a Friday afternoon and the heat is heavy. In an apartment block a lift breaks down. Several people are left inside. Among them is a film actress. A thief is in there too. So are a cook and a pregnant woman. Nobody can get out. The wait lasts twelve hours. In that narrow space what each of them is comes out. Secrets spill one after another. Quarrels and jokes follow one another. The film was shot in black and white. Hind Rostom and Abdelsalam Al-Nabulsi take the leads, with Abdel Moneim Ibrahim and Mahmoud El Meligy also in the cast, in Salah Abu Seif’s Egyptian film of 1959.