«Looking for Oum Kulthum»: a popular and human myth

Cinema Wednesdays - Alexandre Wälti

When a girl has to be a boy to sing in public, then fate can only be exceptional or terrifying. All the more so, no doubt, if you were ten years old like Oum Kulthum in early twentieth-century Egypt.^th century, when our father, an imam, invited us to sing nachîds, Muslim religious songs, in front of the whole village and at weddings. That's what the first scene in Looking for Oum Kulthum by Iranian couple Shirin Neshat and Shoja Azari.

The choices made by the director couple are not revolutionary. They've opted for a mise en abîme that's almost too simplistic, even if it avoids the tasteless biopic. They film the story of director Mitra (Neda Rahmanian) as she attempts to recount the life of the Star of the East. She finds the perfect actress for the lead role, unaware that the shoot will change her forever. Or when the idol suffocates the artist, the woman in exile, the mother hated by a son.

Two film choices

Oum Kulthum is one of those voices that belong in the pantheon of world music. She has chanted countless poems by Ahmed Rami, illuminating the Arabic language with her deep timbre. Like Mercedes «La Negra» Sosa in Latin America, she sang the soul of a people, the Egyptian people, throughout her career, and became a myth of song. She also dared to sing about desire and love.

The first choice of the director duo is the way they attack the Oum Kulthum myth, demystifying it. They emphasize the danger of celebrity, portraying a singer who gradually distances herself from her humble origins to live in palaces and taste the riches of fame. At the same time, Mitra recognizes herself in the character she's filming. A state of affairs that makes her artistic fiber more fragile with each scene, and paradoxically brings her closer to her personal family history. This is not a weakness in itself, even if this departure from the traditional filmed biography somewhat distorts the film's temporality.

The second choice is the insistence on Mitra's life rather than that of the Fourth Pyramid, Umm Kulthum's other nickname. This perspective opens up parallels between the two protagonists' need for glory. On the one hand, the director Mitra accepts every sacrifice for success, and on the other, her relationship with the Songstress of the People, as the Egyptians still called her, becomes almost fusional, identical indeed. A mirror effect, too little exploited in the film.

Half a film

In the end, Looking for Oum Kulthum n’est ni exceptionnel ni médiocre. Il a le mérite de vouloir saisir l’étrange envoûtement que la Dame a exercé et exerce toujours sur de nombreux arabophones et autres mélomanes du monde entier. Même s’il n’y arrive qu’à moitié. Une magie vocale que le film rend notamment dans les scènes de chants de Ghada (Yasmin Raeis, éblouissante), l’actrice dans le rôle d’Oum Kulthum. Les deux réalisateurs ont saisi la dimension humaine et politique du mythe sans ignorer l’ostension de la personnalité de l’auteur de l’hymne national égyptien entre 1960 et 1979. Les frissons ont traversé le corps, par moments.

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Photo credit: © Cineworx