AllMovie

A young journalist researching a story on a group of hedonistic middle-aged friends is outraged to discover just how socially disconnected the group has become as the 1967 war looms ever closer on the horizon in director Hussein Kamal's atmospheric adaptation of Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz's acclaimed novel. Night after night it's always the same for the self-absorbed group of upper-class Egyptians content to pass away the time dancing, making love, and smoking hashish. Their startling disconnect from reality as painfully obvious to the reporter as it is historically tragic, the group continues their descent of debauchery while remaining blissfully unaware of the turmoil that will soon become to blindingly bright to ignore.