Mohamed Khan made 25 films during his lifetime, and he was known for frequently using close-ups in his films. In this research, I attempt to depict close-ups' art in terms of functions in one of Khan mid-career movies: "Wife of an Important Man" (1987). I will analyze five different scenes from this single movie in which he massively used the close-ups. Further, I will provide a description of these close-ups' functions in each one of the scenes. I will be answering the question of what functions did the close-ups serve in Mohamed Khan's selected scenes? How did exactly they make his style unique?
Close-ups are usually artistic and, at the same time, conventional in shootings for cinematic purposes. The art of close-ups reveals the emotions and/or details of the subject, as well as orient the audience's attention to a person's feelings or reactions. In this context, I would like to recall a renowned Egyptian-English filmmaker who was a conscious user of close-ups in his movie, Mohamed Khan. In one of his interviews, he declared that, as a director, his purpose in filmmaking was not the storyline, nor finding solutions to any social issues. What attracted him were feelings and details.
TABLE OF CONTENT
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1: Mohamed Khan: Early life and career
CHAPTER 2: The Wife of an Important Man (1987)
CHAPTER 3: The function of Close-ups in Wife of an Important Man
3.1 Establishing the Place and Time
3.2 Introducing the Protagonist
3.3 Revealing Relationships and Stakes in the Plot
3.4 Expressing the Dominance of Antagonism
3.5 The Rhythmic Progression from Climax to Resolution
CHAPTER 4:
Conclusion ,„
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abstract
Mohamed Khan made 25 films during his lifetime, and he was known for frequently using close-ups in his films. In this research, I attempt to depict close-ups' art in terms of functions in one of Khan mid-career movies: Wife of an Important Man (1987) .
I will analyze five different scenes from this single movie in which he massively used the close-ups. Further, I will provide a description of these close-ups' functions in each one of the scenes. I will be answering the question of what functions did the close-ups serve in Mohamed Khan's selected scenes? How did exactly they make his style unique?
Introduction
“ Good close-ups are lyrical; it is the heart, not the eye, that has perceived them ” (Balazs 1972, p56) Close-ups are usually artistic and, at the same time, conventional in shootings for cinematic purposes. The art of close-ups reveals the emotions and/or details of the subject, as well as orient the audience's attention to a person's feelings or reactions.
In this context, I would like to recall a -renowned Egyptian-English filmmaker who was a conscious user of close-ups in his movie, Mohamed Khan. In one of his interviews, he declared that, as a director, his purpose in filmmaking was not the storyline, nor finding solutions to any social issues. What attracted him were feelings and details. (Khan, 2013).
This research attempts to study Mohammad Khan’s movie The Wife of an Important Man (1987). Particular attention will be addressed to his use of close-ups as a method of portraying human feelings and establishing relationships between the characters.
In short, the study will be an analysis of five chosen scenes. In each of these scenes, Khan deliberately uses close-ups, for which I intended to give a detailed description of its functions. Hence, my two research questions will be:
1. What purposes do the close-ups serve in Mohamed Khan’s The Wife of an Important Man (1987) movie?
2. How do these close-ups contribute to the uniqueness of Khan's movie?
Bela Balazs is an important theorist from the silent era. He states, "that what matters in film is not the storyline but the lyrical element." (Balazs 2011, p.33) Although Khan’s films were made after the silent era, the director’s intention behind the exclusive use of close-ups is very similar to what Balazs had originally described. Hence, the analysis will be made based on Bela Balazs’s theories, and by analyzing Khan’s scenes, I will conclude that he used close-ups in order to express feelings by portraying details.
Chapter 1 Mohamed Khan: Early life and career
Mohammad Khan (full name: Mohamed Hamed Hassan Khan) was born to a Pakistani father and an Egyptian mother on the 26th of October 1942 in the Egyptian capital Cairo. He was an enthusiastic cinephile; he took every opportunity to step inside cinema halls to watch films from a very young age. He lived near a cinema and even watched outdoor movies from his bedroom window. His immense love for the world of cinema did, indeed and unexpectedly, change his upcoming plans. Turning down an offer to study architectural engineering in the capital of the United Kingdom, he later decided to join the former London School of Film Technique (known today as London Film School) following his friend’s recommendation. The world did lose an architect but certainly won a great film director. (Roberts, 2016)
In 1963, and upon the end of his filmmaking specialization studies, Khan decided to move back to Egypt to start his career. First, he worked as a script reader for one of the pioneers of the Egyptian realist wave, Salah Abou Sief. One year later, he was hired to assist the work of several Lebanese directors in Beirut. The June 1967 Arab-Israeli war, also known as the Six-Day War, forced Khan to move back again to London. Ten years later, Khan moved to Egypt and began his career as a filmmaker. In 1978, he produced his debut feature entitled Darbet Shams or Sunstroke. (Mabrouk 2020)
Soon after the popularity of his films grew, spectators and critics began to appraise the unusual pattern in his work. He used a very realistic film language and avoided melodrama in the narration of his films. Usually, he would choose to shoot outside of the studio and work on real locations. It was not only for the locations that he chose real places but also for the characters he wanted to display in his films. He would often choose lower class or bourgeois characters to feature in their most natural surroundings, much like the Italian neorealists, as described by André Bazin.
Nevertheless, his extraordinary use of close-ups became a stylistic element in all his movies that helped him visualize feelings and make a lyrical rhythm in the film. As an illustration, I would refer to his most popular and widely watched film, Ahlam Hind Wa Kamilya (Dreams of Hind and Camelia, 1988), which focused on two maids from Cairo and their common struggle to survive. Another interesting film is his work is Maw’id Ala Al-Asha’ (An Appointment for Dinner, 1981), featuring a very famous actress in the Middle East, Soad Hosny. He also worked with one of the most popular actors in the Arab region, Adel Imam, in the film El Harrif (The Champion, 1984). These films were fine works of art, featuring the most convincing roles of the characters’ careers. Another addition to Khan’s repertoire as a director is a relatively complex political film, Zawjat Rajul Muhimm (Wife of an Important Man, 1987). The film was highly acclaimed for its originality, creativity, and meticulous character presentation, for which he cast famous characters in the important roles. In a nutshell, the film sheds light on a secret agent’s wife through the course of their marriage in the era of Gamal Abdel Nasser, former Egyptian president, until the Sadat regime. This was a very complex, rigid, and sensitive period in Egyptian politics, during which many politicians and government-related agents fell for cruelty and moral corruption. For its complex artistic perspective, this movie will be the basis of this study. (Shafik, 2017)
Chapter 2 The Wife of an Important Man (1987)
In the late 1970s, Egypt witnessed several social, economic, and political upheavals and transformations. It represented an era of transition from Nasserism to Sadatism. Nasserism was a period with reference to Jamal Abdel Nasser, the second president of the Republic of Egypt, who announced the promulgation of a constitution, under which Egypt became a police state, as well as a socialist Arab state with a one-party political system. (St. John, 2020) Post the Nasser era, Egypt transitioned to Sadatism during Anwar El Sadat’s ruling period. Sadat initiated peace negotiations with Israel and signed the Camp David Accords in 1978. Furthermore, Sadat initiated other domestic and foreign policies that were partly a reaction against those of Nasser. He disregarded socialism and followed a new strategy of promoting private capital investment and establishing closer ties with the West, known as the open-door policy. (Ibrahim, 2010).
Mohammad Khan’s film An Important Man’s Wife is an embodiment of several of these changes. It is mainly a story of the rise and fall of Hisham, a State Security Police colonel between those two eras of Egyptian history. The film also shows how this affects the life of the main character, Hisham’s wife, Mona. Hisham is eager to reach the highest positions while taking advantage of everyone around him. He tends to be obsessed with what he has and looks to possess more and more. He even regards Mona, his future wife, as a part of the possessions he owns. Mona, the central character, is a typical 1980s Egyptian middleclass girl whose greatest fantasy is to find her charming prince to fulfill her romantic life dreams. When she agreed to marry him, she thought that Hisham would be her king if she will be his queen. Drowned in her naive thoughts, Hisham would be taking her over as just a part of his house’s furniture. This mix between Mona’s ideas and Hisham’s actions envisages the epitome of a patriarchal society.
Chapter 3 The Function of Close-ups in Wife of an Important Man
Khan and his cinematographer, Mohsen Ahmed, connected the two poles of the story in this film mainly through the cinematic technique of close-up, which, according to Bela Balazs, is “ the art of emphasis. It is a mute pointing to important and significant detail, while at the same time providing an interpretation of the life depicted. Two films with the same plot, the same acting and the same long shots but with different close-ups will express two different views of life. "(Balazs, 2011, p39).
3.1 Establishing the Place and Time
The film starts with a close-up on the side of a truck with titles written in Arabic and English, ‘Winter 1962’. This shot contains the character’s first entrance as “ In film what determines character from the very first moment on is his or her appearance ” (Balazs 2011, p. 27). Mona enters the frame wearing a school uniform and walking fast beside the truck in a medium shot, while the camera is following her on the pan-left, with a zoom-in to have her face in a close-up. This close-up shot introduces her as the main character and renders us; spectators are curious to know more about her story.
Then, we see her walking in the street with another girl who is wearing the same uniform, and the camera tilts up to show a man sitting on the fire exit of a building and reading a newspaper. We then see the newspaper in close-up with a headline saying: Nasser breaks his silence 1. Khan, here, establishes the time of the story while he is introducing the place. We then hear a projector rolling sound, and the man then runs inside the building and puts the projection key on to start screening a movie. After this, we see two close-up shots of the projector light starting and the film rolling, which lets us know that the characters are in a cinema hall.
3.2 Introducing the Protagonist
The next scene starts with a door opening in medium shot and Mona entering the place, turning her face toward the camera to record her close-up (1.). In the next shot, we see the black and white shots of the film being screened from her point of view. We cut back to a reaction shot of her face in the same close-up, with her still standing and watching the movie, followed by a shot of her point of view of the film being screened. The camera follows her until she reaches the cinema hall, showing that she is the protagonist of the actual movie. We get the impression that she is passionate about this movie because her close-ups show her reactions to the film being watched. She is paying close attention to the film from the moment she enters the room before she even sits down. As Balazs states, "The hero's subjective point of view only conveys to us close-ups of seconds, not time in a long shot. That is the nature of impressionism in film. We see only what makes an impression on the hero. ” (Balazs 2011, p45)
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1 Mona in the cinema hall, standing and watching the movie.
The movie continues with a medium shot of her walking and sitting next to her friend who offers her nuts, but she does not take it and continues watching the movie. The next two- minute sequence contains four close-up shots from her point of view while cutting to the song in the film she is watching. This is followed by two extreme close-up shots that show her tears as a reaction to this romantic song (2). This is a unique way of painting a character, as we can see how romantic, emotional, and soft she is by showing the effect of Abdel Halim Hafez’s songs on her face. Hafez, who also goes by the nickname ’’The DarkSkinned Nightingale” because of his beautiful, tender voice, was the master of romantic songs at this time in Egypt. The isolation of her face, which is occupying most of the screen, as she smiles and cries, reveals this romantic side of her, and that is what Bela Balazs calls ”The New Dimension": “ When the camera lifts a part of the body or an object from its surroundings and shows it enlarged. But ifwe see aface isolated and enlarged, we lose our awareness ofspace, or of the immediate surroundings. Even if this is a face, we have just glimpsed amid a crowd, we now find ourselves alone with it... The position of the eyes in the top half of the face, the mouth below; wrinkles now to the right, now to the left - none of this now retains its spatial significance. For what we see is merely a single expression. We see emotions and thoughts. We see something that does not exist in space. ” (Balazs, 2011, plOO).
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2 Mona in the cinema hall, watching the movie and crying.
The intensive use of close-ups in Mohammad Khan movies serves different purposes. As “ the director guides our gaze with the aid of close-ups and also follows up the long shot with shots showing the hidden corners in which the mute life of things retain their secret mood." (Balazs 2011, p38) In these two scenes, Khan used close-ups to simultaneously establish the places and the timing of the story as well as introducing the main character. He revealed information about her and created a specific mood and atmosphere in the first four minutes of the film.
3.3 Revealing Relationships and Stakes in the Plot
With the use of close-ups, the director takes us deep into different situations where patriarchy and men's power over women are pictured at their best. An instance of this is presented to the spectator in the first half of the movie when Hisham and Mona are preparing for their engagement. The scene starts with a shot of Mona’s right hand, she is carrying a box of jewelry and looking at different types of rings (3). A simple interpretation of these seconds would make us believe that she is still in the process of choosing one of them and hesitating between one ring and another.
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3 Mona is checking wedding rings
At this moment, the camera tilts up to her face in a close-up that shows she is still indecisive about it. Here comes the cut to Hisham’s face in a low angle close-up that shows him more powerful than the others (4). He is ordering the jeweler to take her finger size and to leave the place, as he will be contacting him for payment later.
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4 Hisham is looking at Mona while she is checking the rings.
Hisham does not wait for Mona’s answer or even her parents’ opinion. In the same closeup shot, he informs them that he got promoted, and he will be leaving soon to Cairo. This gives more information about him as an antagonist, a smiling militant in this shot, moving in the frame comfortably, and just ordering without asking for anybody’s opinion. The following cut is on Mona’s father’s face saying surprisingly ‘Cairo?’ (5).
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5 Mona's father disapproving of Hisham's plan to move to Cairo.
Hisham totally ignores him in a medium shot, presenting them both at the same time, as he says that they will be moving there together with Mona. Her father starts questioning this fast marriage decision. That is when Hisham interrupts him and goes in the direction of the balcony while telling his driver to take the jeweler back to his place. The next closeup is Hisham's face while entering the room again from a low angle with a dark background. This shows how powerful and controlling he is, especially when the father appeared to disagree with him. He tells them that he already set up the marriage date and the apartment where he will be living in Cairo with his wife. A new cut up on both the parents’ faces individually from a high angle with a white background while just listening shows them in a weak position.
Here we see a close-up of the father while he questions the need for his daughter and Hisham to marry so quickly. Followed by the father's failed attempt to make his son-in-law reconsider, he tells Hisham that Mona is in the last semester of her studies, and she has exams to finish for graduation. However, Hisham tells his father-in-law that he will arrange everything with Mona. He then turns his back to his father-in-law and faces Mona. The camera here tilts down with the same shot scale to see Mona over her father’s shoulder trying to reach for him, while Hisham is still standing in between and changing the topic totally by asking her to show him her room. They leave to her room, cutting to close-ups on the parents’ faces, who appear to be so despairing about the situation.
The director used ’’micro-drama” throughout this entire scene, which is when “ close-ups capture and place in relation to one another the most minute and fleeting facial expressions and gestures, when they make them respond to one another, one gesture to another, one look to another, the result is a dissection of the action into its smallest components. What becomes visible at a close range is the rapid to-and-fro motion that occurs within a single situation, the »micro-drama« of the moment. The close-up enables the action, the story to develop a deeper dimension". (Balázs, 2011, p109). The use of close-ups in this scene reveals the nature of the relationship and the power hierarchy of all the film's present characters. It also describes their personal traits and builds up the stake of the film, which will allow the audience to get a deeper understanding of the story. This also sets the tone and atmosphere of the whole movie.
3.4 Expressing the Dominance of Antagonism
Close-ups continue to be the main theme in the next scene when Mona and Hisham enter her bedroom in a long shot. She goes directly to the balcony to sit on the chair while he is checking out her room. From his point of view, we see a cassette player in a close-up as he presses the play button. We then hear Mona’s note by her voice before a song by Abdel Halim Hafez. He then follows her to the balcony as they are chatting about why she leaves a note on all those songs, and he stands next to her, lowering his body to her chair. The camera then tilts down from his medium to her head in medium close-up, with both of his hands somehow trapping her (6). The shot is made as if he is surrounding her.
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6 Mona is sitting on the chair while Hisham is surrounding her with his hands.
While they are still talking about the songs and her notes, we see a close-up of Hisham occupying most of the frame from a low angle (7).
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7 Hisham is looking at Mona while she is sitting on the chair.
The dark color of his suit and the shadows on his face generate the feeling of strength and control, but the director lost their eye contact match in this scene. Despite the abrupt eyelines, Khan successfully generated the feeling of power and dominance by using light and color settings.
In a transition to another close-up, we see Mona’s soft and very feminine face very bright in the middle of the frame, surrounded by his huge and very masculine hand trying to keep up with the conversation (8).
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8 Mona is avoiding eye contact with Hisham.
This contrast between both Mona and Hisham tells a lot about the depth of the differences between them as characters. In the following shot, we notice him moving his hand to touch her cheeks in a flirty but dominant manner (9).
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9 Hisham's hand is touching Mona's cheek.
Even when she moves her head away, his fingers keep following her cheeks (10). The close-up is so expressively meaningful in showing that as much as she is calm and quiet, he is a powerful controlling man.
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10 Mona is turning her head to avoid Hisham's hand.
The same close-up shot continues to show that he changes his position to use both his hands this time to tighten up around her face (11).
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11 Hisham's hands are surrounding Mona's face.
In this manner, it is obvious that she cannot move anymore as he keeps looking for a better position to control her. The same close-up continues with her moving toward the camera, trying to escape, and when she does, we see his hand catching her hand, trying to stop her (12).
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12 Hisham's hand is catching Mona's hand.
Hisham’s hands are representative of his character and dominance, as Mona is trapped by his hands even though we don’t see his entire body. “ Impressionism always presents a part of the whole and leaves the task of completing the picture to the imagination of the viewer.” (Balazs 2011, p.50). The intensity of the series of close-ups of Hisham’s hands around Mona’s face makes the audience lose the sense of time and space. It instead emphasizes the feeling of discomfort, and we start associating ourselves with the feelings of Mona. In Balazs’s words, "For a hand, even if depicted in isolation, signifies a human being; a table, likewise in isolation, signifies its function in a space. We perhaps do not see this space, but we picture it to ourselves. We do this of necessity since in the absence of an external context an isolated close-up has no meaning. And therefore, no expressive power." (Balazs, 2011, p100).
In this scene, we witness how powerful close-ups can be, especially because the characters were discussing an irrelevant topic. As we see his hand trying to control her face and the muscles of her face are changing and getting stressed, we understand she starts to feel very uncomfortable. All of this raises the tension in the scene, and we feel equally victimized as if he is controlling us. This creates a sensation of sympathy with Mona, and we, therefore, connect on a deeper level with her situation. A whole scene can be described only by using close-ups without any words; indeed, words cannot describe the feelings of Mona, As Bela Balazs declares:
“ The fact is that one word has to have come to an end before another one can begin. But a facial expression needs not to have been completed before another one starts to infiltrate it and gradually displace it entirely. In the legato of visual continuity past and future expressions merge into one another and display not just the individual states of the soul but also the mysterious process of development itself. This narrative of the feelings enables the film to give us something unique.” (Balazs, 2011, p34).
3.5 The Rhythmic Progression from Climax to Resolution
The last scene of the movie contains the most complicated emotions of the whole film. It starts with a close-up of Hisham sleeping on the bed before we see Mona sleeping on the couch in the living room while the television is still on. The camera zooms in until we see the doorbell as if we are waiting for someone to break this silence before the bell rings. We then see Mona’s hand opening three locks of the door, which shows how insecure she is. The door opens slowly, and we see her hands in a close-up, grabbing a man blazer so tight and saying: Dad, thank God you are here. Revealing how much she needs him (13).
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13 Mona is hugging her father.
They go inside as we see in different cuts Hisham coming out from the bathroom with a towel on his shoulders. Mona is telling her father to take her with him. Hisham is tightening his shoe in close-up as he is getting ready for something, and we cut on him wearing a suit as he used to do when he was on duty. Meanwhile, Mona is getting ready to leave with her father, and we see them in a medium shot next to the door before Hisham comes to the corridor and points a gun toward them. A close-up shot of Hisham’s finger on the gun’s trigger changes the whole tempo of the scene (14). This can be interpreted as the arrival of death since the close-up of a gun prepares the spectators for a probable death in the scene. We cut to the father’s chest covered in blood in a medium shot with Mona standing next to him. It generates a sense of shock, even though we expected Hisham to do everything to keep Mona, especially after he lost his job, power, and control over people. Balazs states, "In a good film, the decisive moment of the actual storyline is never shown in long shot. For in a long shot you can never see what is really happening. When I see a finger pulling the trigger and after that see the wound breaking open, then I have seen the start and finish of an action, its birth and transformation. Everything that comes between those two events is invisible, like a bullet in flight". (Balazs, 2011, p38).
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14 Hisham ’s finger is on the trigger of the gun.
After Hisham shot the father, we see Hisham’s face in close-up with tears in his half-closed eyes (15). Presenting his sloping face in the middle of the frame shows him weak, broken, and mentally unstable. “ The close-up of a face is frequently used as the climax of an important scene; it must be the lyrical essence of the entire drama. If the sudden appearance of such an image is not to appear meaningless, we have to be able to recognize its links with the drama as a whole." (Balazs, 2011, p37).
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15 Hisham is looking at Mona after shooting her father.
The next shot is a close-up of the broken mirror showing the father falling down as a result of Hisham’s gunshot (16).
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16 The reflection of the father on the broken mirror while dropped dead.
This shot is the payoff of Hisham’s mental breakdown, which was built up in a previous scene when Hisham broke the same mirror and looked at his distorted reflection (17). This is almost symbolic of him becoming a monster.
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17 Hisham's reflection on the broken mirror.
This is the first time in the movie where we see that the story's narrative pace changes as the director decided to switch to a slow-motion of Mona running in shock and agony towards Hisham. This is captured in a blurry image from Hisham's point of view. The blurry image resembles the mental state of Hisham after he shot the father. As Mona runs towards Hisham, he is standing still in shock and pain while she starts hitting him with her hands covered in blood. She falls on her knees, and we see him from the back leaving the frame to the other room. The way Khan shot this scene and the conscious choice of keeping the actor’s back indicates the separation and parting of their ways. It is symbolic of the broken relationship between Mona and Hisham, who cannot reconnect their feelings again.
In the next shot, we see Hisham's back again, but this time in a wider frame. We can anticipate Hisham’s action of shooting himself since his head is cropped out. We cut to an extreme close-up of Mona's face covered by her hair. Then we see Hisham pointing the gun to his stomach, and we see blood pouring out from his back while he drops down. The camera tilts down to show a close-up of the back of Hisham’s head. On hearing the sound of the gunshot, we see Mona in a close-up, turning her head to see Hisham's corpse, and her facial expression is that of angst and sadness as she lost the two most important people in her life (18). As Balazs indicates, “ The effect of this play of facial expressions lies in its ability to replicate the original tempo of her feelings, this is something that words are incapable of. ” (Balazs 2011, p35)
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18 Mona is looking at Hisham after he killed himself.
We witness the decisive moment of Mona’s torment as a mix of feelings gushes through her mind. The director emphasizes on these feelings portrayed through close-ups along with the slow tempo. It is suggestive that the time has slowed down for her as she can feel every second of it.
Conclusion
Close-up shots are traditionally used in films to generate emotions that help relate the story to the audience. Its primary function is to reveal information that would go unnoticed from far to signal something important. "The close-up is the technical precondition for the art of facial expression and hence of the higher art of film in general.” (Balázs 2011, p37) While many close-ups share the same conventions, Mohamed Khan didn’t use this technique only for those functions, but also, to capture the ’’New Dimension” and the phenomenon called “micro-drama” reflecting on the hierarchy of relations of characters in a film. It also establishes the characters, and place and time of the narrative. This distinctive approach of using close-ups made his style unique and effective compared to other cinema from the Egyptian film industry.
Through the analysis, we could see how close-ups can be powerful, but, on the other hand, using close-ups can be risky for many reasons. First, we might lose the details or the meaning of the scene if there was a lot of movement. Secondly, the audience might find themselves lost in space and time if it is not preceded by a medium or a long shot, which would otherwise keep the audience aware of the spatial continuity of the scene. Despite the risk, Khan succeeded in maintaining the rhythmic structure of the film by emphasizing the meaning behind each gesture made in a close-up. Even when the characters were isolated in a close-up, the audience could follow the development of the plot.
Khan gained popularity for his unique style of using close-ups. He used close-ups to establish the time and place, painting the characters' right from their age and gender to social status and background. He used them to create a mood, emphasize feelings, present the micro-dramas, and, most importantly, symbolize the emotional state of the characters in his films. One popular film depicting the emotional state of characters was Fataat El Masnaa or Factory Girl (2013), where he depicted an intimate moment of kissing by using a close-up of drops of water dripping down from the hands of the female protagonist as she leans forward to kiss. Khan managed to avoid conflicts with censorship but still managed to portray the right feelings by using such techniques. Another example is Kharaga Wa Lam Ya'ud or Missing Person (1984), where Khan used a close-up of the protagonist removing his ring as he introduces himself to a co-passenger in a shared taxi. It is a symbol of him moving on in his life after he gets divorced and moves to the countryside to begin a new life. In this way, Khan created his distinctive style by using close-ups to portray thoughts and feelings.
In conclusion, movies are all about feelings, both what the characters experience and that the audience perceives. The director always aims to deliver these feelings by using tools such as close-ups, which is a powerful technique if used in the right way.
Bibliography:
- Bela Balazs, Theory of the Film: Character and Growth of a New Art, trans. Edith Bone (New York: Arno Press and The New York Times, 1972), 56.
- Solutions, MAD, director. The Last Words Show (Akher Kalam ). YouTube, 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm96AYifqOA&t=1436s.
- Roberts, S. (2016, July 27). Mohamed Khan, Egyptian Filmmaker, Dies at 73. Retrieved October 11, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/27/movies/mohamed-khan-egyptian- filmmaker-dies-at-73.html
- Mabrouk, M., Fahmy, H., Calabrese, J., Khadraoui, W., Ditmars, H., & Fahim, J. (2020, October 07). Remembering Mohamed Khan-the Leader of Egypt's NeoRealist Cinema. Retrieved October 11, 2020, from https://mei.edu/publications/remembering-mohamed-khan-leader-egypts-neo- realist-cinema
- Shafik, V. (2017, January 20). Mohamed Khan obituary: Egypt's most tenacious New Realist: Sight & Sound. Retrieved October 11, 2020, from https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound- magazine/comment/obituaries/mohamed-khan-egypt-new-realist
- John, R. (2020, September 24). Gamal Abdel Nasser. Retrieved October 11, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gamal-Abdel-Nasser
- Ibrahim, A. S. (2010). The politics of educational transfer and policymaking in Egypt. Prospects, 40(4), 499-515. doi:10.1007/s11125-010-9173-3
- Balazs, B., Carter, E., & Livingstone, R. (2011). Bela Balazs: Early film theory: Visible man and the spirit offilm. New York, Oxford: Berghahn Books.
Film stills
1. Wife of an Important Man [Film].Directed by Mohamed Khan [00:02:02].
2. Wife of an Important Man [Film].Directed by Mohamed Khan [00:04:36].
3. Wife of an Important Man [Film].Directed by Mohamed Khan [00:21:41].
4. Wife of an Important Man [Film].Directed by Mohamed Khan [00:21:48].
5. Wife of an Important Man [Film].Directed by Mohamed Khan [00:21:57].
6. Wife of an Important Man [Film].Directed by Mohamed Khan [00:24:03].
7. Wife of an Important Man [Film].Directed by Mohamed Khan [00:24:08].
8. Wife of an Important Man [Film].Directed by Mohamed Khan [00:24:10].
9. Wife of an Important Man [Film].Directed by Mohamed Khan [00:24:13].
10. Wife of an Important Man [Film].Directed by Mohamed Khan [00:24:15].
11. Wife of an Important Man [Film].Directed by Mohamed Khan [00:24:19].
12. Wife of an Important Man [Film].Directed by Mohamed Khan [00:24:21].
13. Wife of an Important Man [Film].Directed by Mohamed Khan [01:47:47].
14. Wife of an Important Man [Film].Directed by Mohamed Khan [01:48:22].
15. Wife of an Important Man [Film].Directed by Mohamed Khan [01:48:25].
16. Wife of an Important Man [Film].Directed by Mohamed Khan [01:48:26].
17. Wife of an Important Man [Film].Directed by Mohamed Khan [01:36:12].
18. Wife of an Important Man [Film].Directed by Mohamed Khan [01:49:50].
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Frequently asked questions
What is the focus of this research paper on "The Wife of an Important Man (1987)"?
This research paper analyzes the use of close-up shots in Mohamed Khan's film "The Wife of an Important Man (1987)" and explores their function in portraying emotions, establishing relationships between characters, and contributing to the film's overall narrative and unique style.
Who is Mohamed Khan and what is his significance in Egyptian cinema?
Mohamed Khan was a prominent Egyptian filmmaker known for his realistic film language, avoidance of melodrama, and frequent use of close-ups to visualize feelings. He is considered a significant figure in Egyptian cinema and a leader of Egypt's Neo-Realist Cinema.
What are the key themes explored in "The Wife of an Important Man (1987)"?
The film explores themes of social, economic, and political upheaval in Egypt during the late 1970s, the transition from Nasserism to Sadatism, the rise and fall of a State Security Police colonel (Hisham), and the impact on his wife (Mona). It also touches on issues of patriarchy and men's power over women.
What is the significance of close-ups in the film, according to Bela Balazs's theory?
According to Bela Balazs's theory, close-ups are the "art of emphasis" and can provide an interpretation of the life depicted in the film. They are used to point out important details, reveal emotions, and guide the audience's gaze. The paper uses Balazs's theories extensively.
How does the film use close-ups to establish the place and time of the story?
The film uses close-ups of a truck with titles indicating "Winter 1962" and a newspaper headline about Nasser to establish the time period. Close-ups of Mona entering the cinema and the projector light indicate the setting.
How does the director use close-ups to introduce the main character, Mona?
Close-ups of Mona's face and her reactions to the film being screened in the cinema hall introduce her as the protagonist and reveal her romantic and emotional nature. The close-ups show her tears and passion for romantic films, highlighting her character traits.
How do close-ups reveal relationships and stakes in the plot, particularly between Mona and Hisham?
Close-ups are used to show the power dynamics between Mona and Hisham, especially during their engagement. For instance, close-ups reveal Hisham's controlling nature and Mona's lack of agency in the decision-making process, highlighting the patriarchal nature of their relationship.
How do close-ups express the dominance of the antagonist, Hisham?
Close-ups of Hisham's face from a low angle, combined with the dark lighting, create a feeling of strength and control. Close-ups of his hands trapping Mona emphasize his dominance and her discomfort, even when the dialogue is seemingly irrelevant.
How does the ending scene use close-ups to convey emotions and the resolution of the plot?
The ending scene employs close-ups of various elements. Hisham's finger on the trigger increases tension. Shots of the gun and Mona's emotional state emphasizes the climax of the story. The film uses slow-motion to convey the characters' angst, sadness and sense of loss.
What is the overall conclusion of the research regarding the use of close-ups in "The Wife of an Important Man (1987)"?
The research concludes that Mohamed Khan uses close-ups not just for conventional purposes, but also to capture the "New Dimension" and "micro-drama," reflecting the characters' relationships, emotional states, and hierarchical dynamics. This unique approach made his style effective and distinct within the Egyptian film industry.
- Quote paper
- Ibrahim Alhndawi (Author), 2021, The Art of Close-ups in Mohamed Khan's Movies. What Purposes do these Close-ups Serve?, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1457248
