Souad

Teenage life is unveiled in all its complexity in contemporary Egypt.

Souad is a film that has been highly praised and there are undoubtedly qualities present in its first half which make that understandable. It is the second feature by Ayten Amin who, in addition to directing it, co-wrote the screenplay with Mahmoud Ezzat and she clearly has an insightful understanding of the contemporary life-styles of adolescent girls living in Egypt today. The titular figure, Souad, is a 19-year-old girl (Bassant Ahmed) living in the small city of Zagazig and we see her not just with her family - her parents (Islam Shalaby and Mona Elnamoury and her younger sister Rabab (Basmala Elghaiesh) - but in the company of other young girls who are her friends. In particular, there’s Wessam (Hagar Mahmoud) whose modern outlook causes her to lead on the others provocatively and Amira (Sarah Shedid) whose views are far more traditional. Yet, regardless of growing up in a conservative country where religious belief remains strong, all of them spend their time using smart phones and Facebook to feed their curiosity about boys and sex. Indeed, although less outspoken than Wessam, Souad has an on-line boyfriend in the form of Ahmed (Hussein Ghanem) who lives in Alexandria and even when he fails to respond to her messages he is a constant preoccupation.

We see few films set in present-day Egypt so the location is a welcome novelty for us and Amin’s film not only feels authentic in its view of these girls but is enhanced by having a cast of young players who give most persuasive performances. Basmala Elghaiesh as Souad’s sister is, perhaps, the most engaging of all. However, in spite of these clear virtues, the first forty minutes or so of Souad also have drawbacks. The fact that these scenes are character-driven but almost plotless is not in itself a failing, but even so three faults become apparent here. Two of them concern the look of the piece. The opening scenes include two bus rides both of which are tiresomely bumpy for the viewer - that is to say that Amin favours a hand-held camera which all too readily here and later yields images uncomfortable to watch. Even when that does not apply, there is an overuse of camera movement that distracts and serves no purpose. Furthermore, the limited plot in the first half calls for precision in the filming so that what we see is always meaningful: in the event too many scenes end abruptly or exist briefly without any purpose for their inclusion emerging.

If that makes for a mixed bag, the development of the film complicates matters even further due to its odd and unexpected structure. The second half of the piece does provide a plot-line but that involves a switch sudden enough to disconcert. An unforeseen event which should not be disclosed propels the rest of the film, but the drama that ensues sometimes seems a shade unlikely. Most importantly, it leaves one unsure just what we are meant to see as the central focus. In these later scenes young Rabab, who is only thirteen years old, takes a secret trip to call on Ahmed in order to ascertain more about her sister’s relationship with him. One recalls how when it first appeared Antonioni’s L’Avventura dismayed audiences by starting out as though a girl’s disappearance was the key element and then becoming instead a film about the relationship between two people searching for her. Not dissimilarly, Rabab and Ahmed become the central figures in this film’s second half even though Souad’s emotional involvement with Ahmed remains crucial. The shift is uneasy and all the more so because what we learn fails to fill out Souad’s story as fully as one would wish. Consequently, my applause for Souad is muted despite the quality of its best features.

MANSEL STIMPSON

Cast: Bassant Ahmed, Basmala Elghaiesh, Hussein Ghanem, Hagar Mahmoud, Sarah Shedid, Carol Ackad, Mona Elnamoury, Islam Shalaby.

Dir Ayten Amin, Pro Sameh Awad, Screenplay Ayten Amin and Mahmoud Ezzat, Ph Maged Nader, Art Dir Chahira Mouchir, Ed Khaled Moeit, Costumes Nayira Al-Dahshoury.

Vivid Reels/Nomads Images/Film Clinic/Neue Road Movies/Fig Leaf Studio-BFI.
96 mins. Egypt/Tunisia/Germany. 2021. Rel: 27 August 2021. Cert. 12A.