''Perfect Strangers'' ( ar,
أصحاب… ولا أعزّ, As'hab… wa'la a'az, Friends… and no dearer) is a 2022 Arabic
comedy-drama film, produced by
Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics ...
-based Front Row Filmed Entertainment with Yalla Yalla,
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
-based Empire Entertainment, and
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo met ...
-based Film Clinic. It is an Arab remake of the 2016 Italian film ''
Perfetti sconosciuti'', and is the first Arabic-language
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
original film made purely by Arab production companies. The film was directed by
Wissam Smayra
Wissam Smayra (; born April 8, 1974) is a Lebanese film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is known for directing the comedy-drama film '' Perfect Strangers'' (2022), as well as being an executive producer on Academy Award for Best Foreig ...
, his debut film in the director's seat, and stars
Mona Zaki
Mona Ali Mohamed Zaki ( ar, منى علي محمد زكي; born 18 November 1976) is an Egyptian actress.
Biography
Mona Zaki was born to her parents Ali Mohamed Zaki and Tahani on November 18, 1976. Until the age of 13, she lived in Kuwait. ...
,
Nadine Labaki
Nadine Labaki ( ar, نادين لبكي ''Nādīn Labikī''; born February 18, 1974) is a Lebanese actress, director and activist. Labaki first came into the spotlight as an actress in the early 2000s. Her film-making career began in 2007 after t ...
,
Eyad Nassar Eyad is an Arabian given name that may refer to one of the following people:
* Eyad Abu Abaid (born 1994), Israeli footballer
* Eyad Hammoud (born 2001), Lebanese footballer
* Eyad Hutba (born 1987), Arab-Israeli footballer
* Eyad Ismoil (born 1971 ...
,
Adel Karam
Adel Karam ( ar, عادل كرم; born 20 August 1972) is a Lebanese actor, comedian and TV presenter.
Career
Karam started his acting career with the comedy show "S.L.CHI" at MTV Lebanon in 1990s, which later became a film, ''S.L.Film'', in 2000 ...
,
Georges Khabbaz,
Diamand Abou Abboud, and
Fouad Yammine.
The film had a
red carpet
A red carpet is traditionally used to mark the route taken by heads of state on ceremonial and formal occasions, and has in recent decades been extended to use by VIPs and celebrities at formal events.
History
The earliest known reference t ...
premiere in Dubai on 17 January 2022, and was released worldwide via Netflix on 20 January 2022.
Plot
May and Walid were hosting a dinner party at their suburban Beirut home for a group of friends during a rare, total
lunar eclipse
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow. Such alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six months, during the full moon phase, when the Moon's orbital plane is closest to the plane of the Eart ...
occurring later that evening. During dinner, the subject of an absent couple who were in a marital crisis was brought up, with the husband having an
affair with a younger woman, and his wife finding out from a text message on his phone. The group then discuss how they are heavily dependent on their phones, and are reluctant to share their phones with their loved ones. To make it interesting, May then suggests a game where everyone surrenders their phones to exposure on the table, and any messages, emails, or calls received on anyone's phone would have to be shared with everyone else. As the game progresses, more secrets are exposed, placing doubt and rifts on their friendships and marriages.
As the guests leave May and Walid's in the end, the lunar eclipse passes completely, and the group behave as if the game never happened, and their relationships has not been strained.
Cast
*
Mona Zaki
Mona Ali Mohamed Zaki ( ar, منى علي محمد زكي; born 18 November 1976) is an Egyptian actress.
Biography
Mona Zaki was born to her parents Ali Mohamed Zaki and Tahani on November 18, 1976. Until the age of 13, she lived in Kuwait. ...
as Mariam (), an Egyptian mother of two and Shereef's wife
*
Nadine Labaki
Nadine Labaki ( ar, نادين لبكي ''Nādīn Labikī''; born February 18, 1974) is a Lebanese actress, director and activist. Labaki first came into the spotlight as an actress in the early 2000s. Her film-making career began in 2007 after t ...
as May (), mother of Sophie and Walid's wife
*
Eyad Nassar Eyad is an Arabian given name that may refer to one of the following people:
* Eyad Abu Abaid (born 1994), Israeli footballer
* Eyad Hammoud (born 2001), Lebanese footballer
* Eyad Hutba (born 1987), Arab-Israeli footballer
* Eyad Ismoil (born 1971 ...
as Shereef (), Mariam's husband
*
Adel Karam
Adel Karam ( ar, عادل كرم; born 20 August 1972) is a Lebanese actor, comedian and TV presenter.
Career
Karam started his acting career with the comedy show "S.L.CHI" at MTV Lebanon in 1990s, which later became a film, ''S.L.Film'', in 2000 ...
as Ziad (), Jenna's newlywed husband
*
Georges Khabbaz as Walid (), father of Sophie and May's husband
*
Diamand Abou Abboud as Jana (), Ziad's newlywed wife
*
Fouad Yammine as Rabea (), a childhood friend of Ziad, Walid, and Shereef
* Sinead Chaaya as Sophie (), May and Walid's 18-year-old daughter
Lebanese newscaster and journalist
Mona Saliba cameos as the
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
news presenter reporting on the lunar eclipse.
Production
In October 2018,
U.A.E. film production and distribution company
Front Row Filmed Entertainment
Front may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''The Front'' (1943 film), a 1943 Soviet drama film
* '' The Front'', 1976 film
Music
*The Front (band), an American rock band signed to Columbia Records and active in the 1980s and e ...
, and its Kuwaiti financial partner
Cinescape
Cinescape - Kuwait National Cinema Company (KNCC), formerly known Kuwait Cinema Company, is a movie theater chain and film distributor in Kuwait. The company was incorporated in 1954 with a capital of 7 million rupees, a few years before the Kuwai ...
, signed a deal with for the rights to produce an Arabic-language remake of Medusa's 2016 film ''
Perfetti sconosciuti''.
Front Row planned to collaborate with
Lebanese
Lebanese may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Lebanese Republic
* Lebanese people
The Lebanese people ( ar, الشعب اللبناني / ALA-LC: ', ) are the people inhabiting or originating from Lebanon. The term may al ...
Empire Entertainment and
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...
ian
Film Clinic
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...
production studios on the remake, and later in association with Front Row's subsidiary Yalla Yalla. The film was originally intended for a theatrical release, with Front Row and Empire International distributing to the
Gulf
A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented navigable bodies ...
and
Levant
The Levant () is an approximation, approximate historical geography, historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology an ...
regions, whilst Film Clinic handled the Egyptian market.
In December 2020, the film's cast and shooting schedule were confirmed. The multi-national cast includes
Diamand Abou Abboud,
Adel Karam
Adel Karam ( ar, عادل كرم; born 20 August 1972) is a Lebanese actor, comedian and TV presenter.
Career
Karam started his acting career with the comedy show "S.L.CHI" at MTV Lebanon in 1990s, which later became a film, ''S.L.Film'', in 2000 ...
,
Georges Khabbaz,
Nadine Labaki
Nadine Labaki ( ar, نادين لبكي ''Nādīn Labikī''; born February 18, 1974) is a Lebanese actress, director and activist. Labaki first came into the spotlight as an actress in the early 2000s. Her film-making career began in 2007 after t ...
, , , and
Mona Zaki
Mona Ali Mohamed Zaki ( ar, منى علي محمد زكي; born 18 November 1976) is an Egyptian actress.
Biography
Mona Zaki was born to her parents Ali Mohamed Zaki and Tahani on November 18, 1976. Until the age of 13, she lived in Kuwait. ...
. In addition, Wissam Smayra was set to direct, and co-wrote the script with Gabriel Yammine.
This is Smayra's debut film as a director, who previously worked as producer on Nadine Labaki's ''
Capernaum
Capernaum ( ; he, כְּפַר נַחוּם, Kfar Naḥum, Nahum's village; ar, كفر ناحوم, Kafr Nāḥūm) was a fishing village established during the time of the Hasmoneans, located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It ...
''. Labaki's husband
Khaled Mouzanar worked on the film's musical score.
Front Row CEO Gianluca Chakra, Film Clinic CEO
Mohamed Hefzy, and Empire president Mario Jr. Haddad were the film's producers. All three producers agree the film is a rare example of a successful pan-Arab feature film co-production.
Filming was scheduled in Lebanon in February 2021 after suffering a delay in 2020 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
and
on-going protests, in addition to the devastating
Beirut Port explosion
On 4 August 2020, a large amount of ammonium nitrate stored at the Port of Beirut in the capital city of Lebanon exploded, causing at least 218 deaths, 7,000 injuries, and US$15 billion in property damage, as well as leaving an estimated 30 ...
that year.
Filming officially wrapped up in March 2021, and was originally expected to release by the end of the year.
In December 2021, it has been confirmed that
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
has boarded up the film, and set to launch the title worldwide as its first Arabic original feature film on 20 January 2022, superseding the initial theatrical release plan. Front Row has apparently signed a
first-look production deal with Netflix, which made this possible.
On 13 January 2022, the film's official trailer was released.
On 17 January 2022, a
red carpet
A red carpet is traditionally used to mark the route taken by heads of state on ceremonial and formal occasions, and has in recent decades been extended to use by VIPs and celebrities at formal events.
History
The earliest known reference t ...
premiere event was organised at the
Bulgari Resort Dubai at
Jumeirah Bay
Jumeirah Bay is a complex containing three skyscrapers in Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The towers are located alongside one of the four lakes in the large Jumeirah Lake Towers project. All three buildings were designed by th ...
, with many of the cast and crew in attendance. Three days later, the film launched worldwide via Netflix with three dubs and 31 subtitles.
Reception
Audience reaction
During its launch week, ''Perfect Strangers'' managed to become the most watched movie on Netflix across multiple Arab countries, and is also the second most watched film on Netflix in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...
.
Although the film was praised by many Arab film enthusiasts online, its subject matter, which is largely faithful to its Italian source material, including the sexual references, obscenities, infidelities, and a homosexual character, also received a lot of negative backlash on social media, especially from the largely conservative Egyptian people, accusing the film of “moral degradation”, amongst other accusations and
conspiracy theories
A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources:
*
*
*
* The term has a neg ...
. The inclusion of popular Egyptian actress Mona Zaki brought a lot of attention to the film from Egyptian viewers.
More notable figures, such as the Egyptian lawyer Ayman Mahfouz claiming that the film was a "plot to disrupt Arab society", and that Zaki was the "champion" of such a plot. Mahfouz is planning to push a lawsuit to have the film taken down from Netflix.
Note that Zaki's character is portrayed as a chronic drinker, and has removed her panties in one scene without explanation, albeit there is no visual nudity in the entire film. The politician
Mustapha Bakri
Mustapha Bakri is a member of the Egyptian House of Representatives. In 1996 he was serving as the editor-in-chief of '' Al Ahrar'', organ of the Liberal Party, but fired due to his extensive support for the Nasserist views. He also served as the ...
, who in a statement to the speaker of Egypt's
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
said the film "incites homosexuality and betrayal."
Saudi actor
Nasser Al Qasabi
Nasser bin Qassim Al Qasabi ( ar, ناصر بن قاسم القصبي, born 28 November 1961 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) is a Saudi Arabian actor. He started his acting career in 1984 and is known for his various roles in the series '' Tash Ma Tash ...
admitted on
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
to enjoy the film's dialogue and direction, but accused Netflix of being "corrupt and inciting corruption" for "exciting and marketing" the concept of homosexuality, expressing concern how it may skew future Arab productions into portraying the subject matter.
On the other side of the coin, Egypt's Actors Union issued a statement in solidarity with for the cast of ''Perfect Strangers'', especially Mona Zaki, calling for the preservation of "creative freedom" and emphasising the role of "artistic expression" in addressing issues in society.
Many other fellow Arab actors also expressed their support for Mona Zaki in the midst of the backlash via social media, including
Amr Waked
Amr Waked ( ar, عمرو واكد ; born ) is an Egyptian film, television and stage actor. He is best known to international audiences and in Hollywood for his role in the 2005 film ''Syriana''. Other prominent roles include a Yemeni Sheikh calle ...
,
Hend Sabry
Hend Sabry ( ar, هند صبري, born 20 November 1979) is a Tunisian Egyptian actress working in Egypt.
Career
Sabry starred as "'Ola" in the Egyptian television drama ''Ayza Atgawez'' as a character obsessed with getting married, who goes t ...
,
Ahmad Fahmy
Ahmad ( ar, أحمد, ʾAḥmad) is an Arabic male given name common in most parts of the Muslim world. Other spellings of the name include Ahmed and Ahmet.
Etymology
The word derives from the root (ḥ-m-d), from the Arabic (), from the ...
, and
Ghada Abdel Razek.
Critical reception
The movie instantly became
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
’s first
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
film to top the charts, but simultaneously attracted criticism, leading to a call for banning the OTT platform. The remake of the
Italian film by the same name caused outrage in Egypt with calls for the streaming service to be banned and criticism of
Mona Zaki
Mona Ali Mohamed Zaki ( ar, منى علي محمد زكي; born 18 November 1976) is an Egyptian actress.
Biography
Mona Zaki was born to her parents Ali Mohamed Zaki and Tahani on November 18, 1976. Until the age of 13, she lived in Kuwait. ...
, the Egyptian actress starring in the film. The particular backlash against Zaki came following her previous “clean” roles as compared to the wife who exchanges sexy messages with a stranger in Perfect Strangers. Meanwhile, defenders of the film have called out its critics and demanded them to cancel their Netflix subscription.
Notes
References
External links
*
*
{{Perfect Strangers
2022 comedy-drama films
2022 films
2022 directorial debut films
2020s Arabic-language films
Arabic-language Netflix original films
Egyptian comedy-drama films
Emirati comedy-drama films
Film productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Films set in country houses
Films set in Lebanon
Films shot in Lebanon
Lebanese comedy-drama films
Remakes of Italian films