Click Here For Our VIDEO Interview with Alexander Siddig

At first, I thought the title of this film seemed a little silly. Cairo Time? It sort of conjures up images of Cleopatra breakin’ it down, M.C. Hammer-style. But a few minutes into this tiny gem of a film, I got it. The Egyptian city seems to run on a unique time all its own – it’s a place where past (ancient pyramids) coexists with present. Cairo Time also represents a time in a woman’s life – a small period where she explores something exciting and new. The minutes and hours she once knew are transformed as soon as she steps foot in the exotic city. One imagines “Cairo Time” could also be the way she labels that memorable trip in her head, whenever she thinks back on it.

The film pours itself out slowly, like honey in the thick Mediterranean heat. It reveals things by not saying much at all, a tough sell had it not been for the immense talents of the ever-classy Patricia Clarkson and Alexander Siddig. Clarkson plays Juliette, a soft-spoken waif of a woman arriving in Cairo, Egypt with the hopes of reuniting with her UN worker husband. When her husband gets delayed because of a flare-up in the Gaza Strip, his former security officer Tareq (Siddig), an unassuming yet rugged Egyptian local, promises to look after her.

Juliette, a magazine editor, is successful and settled, but at once you can tell she came to Egypt in search of something. She’s immediately envious of the exotic, colorful lives Egyptian people seemingly lead, and yet at once bewildered by this very different culture. At first, Juliette is intent on seeing the city on her own. She moves about with a slender dancer’s grace, eager to do and eager to learn. But when the differences in culture prove rather, well, shocking to her (because of her foreign beauty, men aggressively follow her down the street), Tareq offers to become her tour guide of sorts.

It’s then that the two really connect. Tareq, a single man marred by past heartbreak, opens up Juliette’s world. He shows her Cairo from a local’s perspective, and the more she sees, the less she dwells on her husband’s absence. When the two attend a wedding together, Juliette watches in awe as the bride and mother of the bride dance with sultry abandon. You can’t help but relate to her pang of wanting to belong in that world.

Director/writer Ruba Nadda does an elegant job of showing the beauties of a city not often portrayed on film. She shot everything on location – in 115 degree heat, no less – but all the sweat paid off. It’s amazing to see the pyramids in proximity to the city. They loom majestically in the background – reminders of the city’s rich

ancestral history and perhaps serving as a reminder of the passing of time. Nadda also rightfully stays away from throwing in a jolt of terrorism or anti-American violence. The underlying feeling of danger and unease is there, but it’s not the sole focus of the film, nor is it meant to be.

Juliette and Tareq’s relationship barely gets time to blossom – we see the feelings forming, but never hear them spoken. I liked that there wasn’t a profound change; everything is subtlety done. With its stunning performance from Clarkson, its eye-opening scenery and its soft, serene romance, Cairo Time proves a surprisingly moving experience. When the film’s over, you’ll be sad that time ran out.