The Aquarium

It all takes place in Cairo, today. The action takes place over 48 hours. Laila is 32 and works as a radio-presentator. People call her on her show “Night Secrets” to reveal their innermost secrets. She plays squash; she swims; sometimes she writes stories for children and she sometimes goes out with her friend to discos. She lives with her mother and her brother. Youssef is an anaesthetist. He is about 35. In the morning he works in a perfectly respectable private hospital. At night he works in an illegal abortion clinic. His father is dying of cancer. Youssef likes to hear his patients’ delirium, just before they go into deep anesthesia. When they wake up, he tells them everything they have said. He also likes to listen to Laila’s radio-programme.Sometimes, he spends part of his nights with a woman he likes, but he doesn’t love her enough to spend the whole night with her. He lives in his car. Two characters, who don’t know each other and who will meet. Their lives will not change drastically. They will just realise how lonely they are. —Berlinale