Alexandria Again and Forever
A restless Egyptian director turns his artistic obsessions, romantic longings, and industry crisis into a theatrical maze about who controls the movies.
Overview
A passionate director grapples with obsession amidst a cultural crisis in the film industry.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Dense
- Violence
- None
- restless
- theatrical
- introspective
- arthouse film night
- film studies viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as an ambitious and formally inventive work of Egyptian auteur cinema, though its theatrical self-reflexivity can feel demanding.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Yehia is a famous director whose obsession with performers and collaborators becomes inseparable from his filmmaking process.
Chahine's Yehia also inhabits Marc Antoine, Sostratus, Hephaestion, and other performance-linked identities through the film's dramatic structure.
The story unfolds during a hunger strike by the Egyptian film industry, making production politics a central pressure.
Yehia's fixation on Amir and his desire to work with Nadia merge emotional longing with questions of creative control.
Films like Alexandria Again and Forever, and why
8½
self-reflexive filmmaking, theatrical performance, and blurred boundaries between artistic creation and personal desire
Day for Night
meta-cinema, director protagonists, and an emotionally restless meditation on filmmaking
The Night of Counting the Years
arabic-language auteur cinema combining political context, performance, and personal artistic crisis
Movie Details
- Director
- Youssef Chahine
- Release Date
- 1989-12-04
- Runtime
- 105 min
- Rating
- 4.8 / 10 (15)
Cast
- Youssef Chahine
- Yousra
- Hussein Fahmy
- Amr Abdel Gelil
- Hesham Selim
- Tahiya Cariocca
- Huda Sultan
- Seif Abdelrahman
- Abla Kamel
- Zaki Fatin Abdel Wahab
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Criterion Channel
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Alexandria Again and Forever about?
- A restless Egyptian director turns his artistic obsessions, romantic longings, and industry crisis into a theatrical maze about who controls the movies.
- What is Alexandria Again and Forever like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Alexandria Again and Forever as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as dense.
- Is Alexandria Again and Forever violent?
- No — Ember's analysis finds no violence in Alexandria Again and Forever.
- What did critics think of Alexandria Again and Forever?
- Critics broadly regard the film as an ambitious and formally inventive work of Egyptian auteur cinema, though its theatrical self-reflexivity can feel demanding.
- Which films are like Alexandria Again and Forever?
- Films with a similar feel include 8½, Day for Night, and The Night of Counting the Years.
- How long is Alexandria Again and Forever?
- Alexandria Again and Forever runs 105 minutes.
- Where can I watch Alexandria Again and Forever?
- In United States, Alexandria Again and Forever streams on Criterion Channel.
