Dir: Yasser Shafiey | Egypt, Comedy Drama. 2025
Reviewed by Meredith Taylor
A broken refrigerator is the talking point for this absurdist domestic drama, that sees Egypt’s Yasser Shafiey revitalisijg the comedy school of veteran Egyptian filmmakers such as Rafaat Al-Meehy in his feature debut.
Consumer gripes take up most of our time nowadays, endless call-centres telling us how busy they are – (never mind how busy we are). And Egypt is no exception. Shafiey keeps the tone light using an everyday problem as a springboard for this light-hearted look at life in central Cairo for an elderly couple. Sama and Magdi – played by veteran actors Sharihan and Mahmoud Heimedia, are both civil servants and have been married for 37 years, Sama in line for a payout on her upcoming retirement. Magdi, at a lose end since he stopped working, has already earmarked the money, and spends most of his day sitting around doing nothing until a minor domestic set-back involving the fridge, keeps him busy full time. The two of them simply want to repair their ‘fridge and get on with their humdrum lives, but nothing is ever that easy in this simple but eventful feature story that unravels in a lively but only too familiar way.
With time on her hands Sama plans to set up a home cooking business leaving Magdi to sort the dodgy fridge in their small Cairo apartment. To cheer them up Sama suggests a celebration for the couple’s 37th wedding anniversary inviting close friends family, in the shape of their son (Ali El Tayeb), who ducks at the last minute on work grounds. Defrosting the fridge with a hammer and knife Magdi accidentally breaks the motor and then does his back in moving the empty appliance, testing their creaky relationship to the limit and adding another twist to the storyline. Sama wants to splash out on a new appliance but Magdi decides on a fruitless quest to have it repaired. To make matters worse, Sara’s centrepiece for the party, a special cheesecake (stored in the faulty fridge) goes off and the couple spend the rest of their anniversary with food poisoning. Once recovered all Magdi can look forward to is an interminable kafkaesque journey to hell with the repair company, and ultimately the Consumer Protection Agency.
With inventive camera angles and a cheerful occasional score Shafiey keeps thigs lively in an amusing chamber-piece that never overstays its welcome at just over 80 minutes running time.
ROTTERDAM FILM FESTIVAL 29 JANUARY – 8 FEBRUARY 2026