Tag Archives: Dalida

The Youssef Chahine Podcast No. 32: Youssef Chahine’s Cinema — An Egyptian Perspective, Part II

 

 


We continue our discussion with Hussein, to garner an Egyptian perspective on the career of Youssef Chahine to 1985. We touch on Son of he Nile/ Nile Boy (1951), The Blazing Sun,/ Struggle in the Valley (1954) ‘The Turn of the Decade’ films (Forever Love/ Forever Yours (1959), In Your Hands (1960), A Lover’s Call (1960), A Man in My Life (1961). We continue with all his major films and discuss how some phrases from them have become common parlance in Egyptian culture. We also touch on the complicated relationship with Mohsen Mohieddin Mohsen Mohieddin and we end with Dalida and The Sixth Day (1986). It’s a conversation still to be continued, and we will cover the last phase of his career in the next podcast.

The podcast can also be listened to on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/2zWZ7Egdy6xPCwHPHlOOaT

and on itunes here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/first-impressions-thinking-aloud-about-film/id1548559546

Hussein also sent some wonderful photos which he describes as follows.

First photo (above) is a film poster from one of his first films, not sure which.

Second (below) is from Forever Love, the first of the four “turn of the decade” films.

 

Third is a photo  I took on my way home from work today of the building where Chahine lived most of his life till death, he lived in one of the three upper floors with the many windows. He actually shot many scenes there, in Egyptian Story (1982), Alexandria Again and Forever (1989), Cairo as seen by Chahine (1991)and Silence on Tourne (2001).

 

The last one is the plaque at the entrance of the building memorializing him. He used to live in the downtown Nile island of Zamalek, one of the more affluent neighborhoods of Cairo back in the days and still today.

José Arroyo

The Youssef Chahine Podcast No. 16: Le sixième jour/The Sixth Day (France/Egypt, 1986)

le sixieme jour

 

A discussion of Le sixième jour, which Chahine dedicates to Gene Kelly as a thank you for having filled his youth with joy. A rare Chahine film that is centred on a female star, female desire and female self-actualisation in a patriarchal culture. A hybrid of a woman’s film and musical. It’s set during a cholera pandemic, which resonates with the present, and also features a story of the unrequited love of a 26 year old street performer for an unhappy and much older housewife, one that still feels transgressive. Richard loved it very much. I less so. But we agree that it remains essential viewing for fans of Dalida and Youssef Chahine.

Those of you who don’t know of Dalida, the star, might be interested in this BBC radio documentary: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04tmx5c?fbclid=IwAR2L6lzcVgBUR75eh8i6PE7UuhZy-VPZRK9K0BIoCfB4HVFF809WGGWnWlE

Those of you who speak French, might be interested in this fascinating interview with Dalida for Radio France. Celebrated film critic Serge Daney is the interviewer: https://www.franceculture.fr/emissions/les-nuits-de-france-culture/dalida-la-psychanalyse-ma-beaucoup-aidee-a-comprendre-le-personnage-de-saddika-dans-le-sixieme-jour-0?fbclid=IwAR33tJBDh9ViQuU2Szmf5kkf7M1_ME1VulrWHZwxrCqte-oVDK5iNfQ3vCg

 

I made this little trailer:

 

The passage from Ibrahim Fawal’s book, Youssef Chahine, discussed in the podcast:

IMG_1535

Chahine, Dalida, visual compositions:

Mohse Mohieddin and the monkey, a rhyme with the end of Return of the Prodigal Son:

Screenshot 2020-08-15 at 12.07.49

José Arroyo