Comedy from a lock-in

A quarrel between a husband and wife pushes them to think of divorce. So, the husband’s parents and the wife’s parents and also their friends were invited to discuss the big D.

Unfortunately, unforeseen circumstances lock them all in the apartment overnight.

Writer and director Walid el-Halafawi starts his new movie Wesh fi Wesh (Face to Face), charged withthoughtful dialogue.

Sherif (Mohamed Mamdouh) and Dalia (Amina Khalil) love each other but they come to the point when they fail to understand each other. They decide to divorce.

However, when both families and friends meet and are locked in the same apartment, everything becomes hilarious and the problem becomes bigger.

The differences between the characters of the wife’s parents and the husband’s parents create all the comedy, especially Dalia’s father (Maghawri) and Sherif’s father (Bayoumy Fouad).

Maghawri’s character is the typical hen-pecked husband while Fouad’s is stronger and he respects and loves his wife (Salwa Mohamed Ali). Both actors have done numerous comedies and it was very easy for them to create a light atmosphere.

Also, the contrast between the character of Sherif’s Mother (Salwa Mohamed Ali) and Dalia’s mother (Anoshka) make it more fun. Sherif’s mother is a calm woman who is well educated and cannot be drawn intoquarrels easily, while Dalia’s mother seems to be very keen on her look and style. She is not well educated but tries to act above her class.

As for Serif and Dalia themselves, there is hardly any back story or details about their intimate moments. Nor is there much to say about their son, which can be a weak point. Instead, the film launches straight into the couple’s quarrel and scant references are made to their feelings for each other.

But, one of the challenging aspects of the movie is that it takes place in only one place which is the apartment. It is challenging because having this large number of characters in one place without making them boring or naïve is not an easy task.

The director employed the place very well to serve his idea. In one of the scenes, we see Dalia speaking with her friend Salma (Asmaa Galal) in the bedroom where Dalia’s son is sleeping. In another scene, we see Sherif with his friends in the living room while the parents in the salon room. Also, the driver – who was also locked with them in the apartment – is seen in another room with the maid servant (Donia Samy) as he flirts with her – although these two characters and their line were not effective in the script and were only created to add more comedy scenes – which was entertaining.

Started very simple, the movie also ended very simple. The quarrels subside, the door of the apartment opens and everyone decides to resume his life as he wants. This makes the end of the movie go well with the whole script because it is simple and fast.

But, what makes Wesh fi Wesh worth watching is the good acting of Mohamed Mamdouh, Amina Khalil and the rest of the cast, as well as the good dialogue.