Cinema
A Civilized People
متحضرات
Randa Chahal Sabbag · 1999
Synopsis
During the civil war, part of Beirut's bourgeoisie leaves for Europe and entrusts its apartments to servants who have come from Asia and Egypt. In a nine-storey building and a villa overlooking the city, those who remain endure the whims of a sniper who controls the neighbourhood. Several stories cross there: the love of a young Muslim militiaman and a Christian maid, the return of a wealthy bourgeois woman who has come back to find her lover, the lives of Beirut's cats.
Context
The film is presented at the Venice Film Festival on 4 September 1999, then at Toronto and Rotterdam. In Lebanon, it is shown only once, at the Beirut International Film Festival: the Sûreté générale then demands the cutting of about forty-five minutes, the director refuses, and the film remains banned in the country. It is built in successive tableaux, which give considerable space to the ill-treatment of domestic workers. It is released in France on 25 April 2000.
Who it is for
In Arabic and French; a black comedy made up of tableaux, which sides neither with the victims nor with the heroes.
Prizes and reception
Banned in Lebanon, but awarded a prize in Venice in 1999 for its unflinching view of the war.
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