The lives and loves of a handful of Egyptian aristocrats -- some flush, others living in shabby gentility -- set the stage for this epic-scale drama, based on a best-selling Egyptian novel. The Yacoubian is a luxury apartment building which was built in Cairo in the late '30s. At the dawn of the 21st century, the Yacoubian still has charm and a reputation for elegance, but is beginning to show clear signs of decay, and the rooftop laundry facilities now double as flats for the less fortunate.
Among the residents of Yacoubian are Haj Azzam (Nour El Sherif), a self-made business tycoon noted for his strict religious views. However, Azzam's public morality is a far cry from his private life, in which he uses his fortune to buy both political influence and the hand of a beautiful widow (Somaya El Khashab). Hatem Rasheed (Khaled El Sawy) is a respected newspaper editor who has a shocking secret -- he's gay, and is romantically involved with handsome young soldier. Zaki Pasha (Adel Imam) is an aging self-styled lady killer who has long lived at the Yacoubian off the largesse of his family. When his sister kicks him out of their flat, he is forced to move into the office he used for his trysts. Zaki turns to his former girlfriend Christine (Yousra) for help, but she can do nothing for him. Meanwhile, Bosnaina (Hind Sabry), who lives in one of the rooftop apartments and cleans Zaki's room, has grown tired of her relationship with her boyfriend, Taha (Mohamed Imam), who has developed a troubling interest in Muslim extremism. Omaret Yacoubian (aka The Yacoubian Building) was the first feature film from director Marwan Hamed. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
The Yacoubian Building distinguishes itself both as the most expensive Egyptian film ever made and, despite its nearly three-hour running time, one of the most watchable.
Islam is only cast as anti-democratic. Only homosexuality is [shown as] worse. The Yacoubian Building slums around in the basement when it could have shown some messy, lived-in corners of a down-to-earth, honest-to-god African nation.
A revelatory slice of secular life in downtown, modern-day Cairo... like an Egyptian Tales From the City, soapy with communal taboos in each of its entwined scenarios... enlightening and articulate...
While it was commendable how the film stuck closely with the important themes of sexuality, religion and politics as in the novel, it was less subtle in the treatment of them, almost to the point I felt like it had changed the meaning of what the novel had implied. This was especially so in the portrayal of the gay
character. The movie did run on longer than it should have, but the acting was decent and the depiction of what was the Egyptian way of life was insightful.
Alaa Al Aswany's novel adaptation is a great picture with a few flaws. First, we don't need to know off the gay ass shit that's happening behind closed. In other words, spare us the disgust. Second, religious people are portrayed stereotypically. Other than that, great acting and cinematography.
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