Melodrama Habibi
Rating M (l)
Synopsis
“Habibi is, indeed, a full-blown, crowd-pleasing melodrama, there’s a more thoughtful subtext below its glossy exterior.”
-Boyd Van Hoeij, VARIETY
Melodrama Habibi is primarily in French, with bursts of Arabic and English interspersed, merging cross-cultural parallels and contradictions with themes of nostalgia, memory and moving on. Charming, funny and genuinely touching in parts, this is a story about understanding what should be left in the past and what matters in the present.
Lebanese socialite Madame Harfourche invites her favourite singer, 1970s one-hit wonder Bruno Caprice to perform at her birthday party in Beirut. Now working as a hotel receptionist in Paris, Bruno is still pathetically in love with his ex-girlfriend and seems to have very little else to look forward to in life, so he accepts Madame Harfourche’s offer. Bruno’s drunken, pill-popping behaviour is out of control from his arrival in Beirut but his spirit is about to be invigorated by an unexpected encounter with the city.
When Madame Harfourche is kidnapped on the eve of her gala birthday bash, her beautician Nadine (Pierrette Katrib) is called on to play tour guide and chaperone to the wayward singer. Thinking that his 1976 hit song has been long forgotten, Bruno is about to discover that Madame Harfourche is not the only person for whom his song holds significance.
When will this screen next?
Thursday 23 September 10:10 PM
Encore Screenings
Friday 24 September 12:00 PM
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