Room To Rent

France / UK, 2000. Directed by Khalid Al-Haggar. Saïd Taghmaoui, Rupert Graves, Anna Massey, Juliette Lewis, Karim Belkhadra, Clémentine Célarié.

Ali (Saïd Taghmaoui) is a young Egyptian who has been living in London but whose visa is due to expire in a few weeks. His aim is to become a screenwriter and he spends a lot of his time tapping out scripts on his battered old typewriter, taking his inspiration from the people and events going on around him. With little money and having been thrown out of his lodgings we follow him as he finds accommodation with a succession of colourful characters while desperately trying to raise the money to buy himself a British bride to enable him to stay in the country. The flatmates are a gay photographer (Rupert Graves), a Marilyn Monroe lookalike (Juliette Lewis) and an elderly blind woman who believes him to be the reincarnation of her dead lover (Anna Massey). This is one of those “immigrants trying to make it in Britain” movies, which I guess originated with My Beautiful Launderette (a much better film than this). It works part of the time, but some of it feels a bit laboured and the final act, which moves us into fantasy territory, sits uneasily with what has gone before. But if this is a weakness it’s also a strength, because what I liked most was that the storyline was admirably unpredictable. Saïd Taghmaoui handles his role satisfactorily and is believable as the hapless hero. As the photographer, Rupert Graves gives a strong, thoughtful performance, which steered clear of the caricature it could have been. As “Marilyn”, Juliette Lewis gives a convincing impersonation of a character who’s impersonating the movie star (if you see what I mean), but I was left unsure as to her motivation. As the elderly woman, veteran Anna Massey delights by simply doing what’s expected of her – I reckon she could do this kind of thing in her sleep! Overall then, a quirky little film which falls short of greatness, but has much to interest the viewer.