Manifesto dell'assertività femminile di contro a un background socio-politico di certo non incoraggiante - attitudine non nuova nel veterano del miglior cinema egiziano Magdy Ahmed Ali -, Fawzya dispiega scenari e figure muliebri da immaginario felliniano, mettendoci istantaneamente di buon umore nel suo suggerire come affrontare con ineffabile positività la pochezza di mezzi e di pensiero per metterla K.O. con una risata.

Il film si apre con una gustosa sequela di consorti prescelti dalla gloriosa protagonista menzionata nel titolo, eletti tra tutti gli altri pretendenti e disposti a soccombere gioiosamente alla sua forza di carattere pur di prender posto alla sua tavola e nel suo talamo con ritmi e levità volutamente da soap-opera, capace di trasformare in occasione di incontro persino i funerali dei precedenti mariti.

La tragedia incombe, ma Fawzya la smaltisce festosamente portandola in tavola e banchettandovi con squisito, ottimistico appetito per la vita insieme alle persone che godono, a dispetto di tutto, del suo amore inesauribile. Il quale si esprime straripante e si riversa nella ricchezza delle sue ricette, nei colori seducenti del suo abbigliamento e make-up, nei canti languidi, spillando carica erotica al di là del rigore censorio connaturato alle culture islamiche.

E difatti una nota a parte meritano le generose performance - e misure - della star egizia Ilham Shaheen, meritatamente premiata quale miglior attrice all'ultimo festival di Abu Dhabi.

Una festa per gli occhi e per il cuore, dunque. Ma, appena oltre la briosa leggerezza del film e degli stili di vita che ritrae, occhieggia la denuncia velata di un autore severo, il quale non perde occasione per puntare il dito sulle manchevolezze di un sistema che nella realtà lascia poco spazio a facili entusiasmi.
Maria Rosaria Cerino (Festival de Taormina 2009, Italie)

Interpreti
Ilham Shahin, Fathi Abdel Wahab, Ezzat Abou Ouf, Nagwa Fouad

Regia: Magdi Ahmad Ali
Nazione: EGITTO
Produzione: Shahin Film

______________________________

The tale of a much-married woman asserting her sexuality while struggling to overcome poverty.
Fawzeya, is a woman who has been married four times and had children from each of her husbands. She manages to keep her independence in spite of poverty and enjoys a friendly relationship with all of her ex-husbands. As a matter of fact, she invites them all every week for dinner and serves them her secret recipe : her love of life.

On the borders of the city are these homes, open to emptiness and darkness, leaning on one another, fearing the night raids or the heavy hand of the government.
These homes gave to the people its features, hiding its harshness and making them to see more gentle and kind in its try only….to survive.
While breaking all rules of poverty and traditions in her little community, Fawzia doesn't realize that she paves a path for resistance and victory to the life that she did choose.
Fawzia embraces the secret recipe for transients that we see every day and we pass by them without glimpsing in their eyes, exhausted facial features, and in their ability to laugh bitterly in irony's face, this persistence to cling to the deceitful hope of a better life. A life that they don't wait for anyone else to give.

Duration: 115 min

Egyptian female lead Fawzeya begins many impulsive, uninformed marriages that end bitterly, but seem to pass just as quickly. The nest of ex-lovers she chose initially continues to choose its own company aside her, hoping to launder their loneliness into the companionship provided by a platonic community. Thus, Fawzeya is surrounded by a host of dreamers who refuse to let the restraints of a lower social station and chaste relational traditions stop them from living ungrounded, status-quo breaking lifestyles. But it doesn't present the utopia always anticipated or imagined: With many compromises made, Fawzeya struggles to feel fulfilled even when getting what she thinks she wants every time. Her ability to even explore or begin to understand what will fulfill her - love being the secret recipe for that fulfillment - is further complicated by operating within the strict social boundaries of an Islamically rooted Egypt where relational discourse is frequently culturally thwarted.
13th Annual Arab Film (2009), San Francisco
http://arabfilmfestival.org/2009/film_detail.php?film_id=591

A manifesto of feminine assertiveness set against a discouraging social and political background - a well known trademark of veteran director Magdy Ahmed Ali whose films no doubt find a place among the best of Egyptian cinema- Fawzya deploys settings and womanly figures worthy of Fellini's imagery thus immediately cheering up its audience by suggesting the use of an ineffable positivity against the poverty of thought and means and the fatal power of laugh on them.
The film opens with a luscious sequence of consorts chosen by the glorious protagonist mentioned in the title. Picked out from a group of suitors, these men are willing to joyously succumb to the woman's exuberance just to get a chance to sit at her table and be welcomed into her marriage bed. The rhythm and levity deliberately echo those of a soap opera, thus transforming into a social gathering even the funerals of Fawzya's former husbands.
Despite the incumbent tragedy, Fawzya metabolises it by taking it to her table and banqueting with exquisite, optimistic hunger for life in the company of the people who, regardless of everything, enjoy her inexhaustible love. An overflowing love which permeates the richness of her recipes, the seducing colours of her attire and make-up, the languid chants, and spills erotic charge beyond the censorious rigour of Islamic cultures.

A special mention goes to the generous performance - and measurements- of Egyptian star Ilham Shaheen, who has been the recipient, and deservedly too, of the award for Best Actress and the last Abu Dhabi Film Festival.
This film is a true feast for the eyes and the heart. But, beyond its sparkling lightness and that of the lifestyles it portrays, lies the veiled accusation of a rigorous author, who doesn't waste the chance to point the finger at all the defects of a system which in the real world leaves very little space for any form of enthusiasm.
Maria Rosaria Cerino (Festival de Taormina 2009, Italie)


Interpreters
Ilham Shahin, Fathi Abdel Wahab, Ezzat Abou Ouf, Nagwa Fouad

Directed by Magdi Ahmad Ali

Release Date: 2008
Original Title: Khaltet Fawzeya
Production: Shaheen Film
Director: Magdy Ahmed Aly
Scriptwriter: Hanaa Ateia
Genre: Drama
Running time: 120 min.
Distributor: Al Arabia Cinema

Awards
- Wahran Film Festival 2009
* Best Film

- Wahran Film Festival 2009
* Best Actress

- Rotterdam Arab Film Festival 2009
* Best Actress

- Abu Dhabi International Film Festival 2008
* Best Actress