Hepta: The Last Lecture

Hadi El Bagoury's 2016 Egyptian film adapts Mohamed Sadek's bestselling novel. Dr Shukri Mokhtar, a specialist in social psychology, decides to give one last lecture on a single question: how do we love. Across the lecture four separate love stories are told, each constructed as an illustration of the seven-stage scheme he presents. The structure follows that scheme, which is both orderly and limiting: the stories stand as proof of a thesis rather than living on their own. Against that, the young cast, particularly the section with Ahmed Malek and Gamila Awad, carries a truthfulness that exceeds the template. It was a large commercial success in Egypt and set off a wave of productions built on a young audience. Who it's for: viewers who like popular Egyptian cinema and episodic love stories. Who it's not for: anyone who will find love explained through schemes shallow, or the runtime past two hours excessive.