December 2022
Architect of Joy
Fouad el-Mohandes and Subconscious Cinema
by Walid el-Khachab
This book deals with Fouad el-Mohandes’ work in theatre, radio, and television, and celebrates his productions which always distinguished themselves and his ever-elegant performances, in all media and artistic genres. It focuses its study on Fouad el-Mohandes’ cinematic works, particularly during the period of his on-screen stardom in the sixties and seventies, and especially within the framework of the Fouad el-Mohandes/Shwikar duo. The book examines the interplay of el-Mohandes’ work with history and society through three issues: First; el-Mohandes’ film adaptations and the paradox between his attempt to crate a patriotic Egyptian comedy using mostly English plays and films. Second; the predominance of the theme of duplicates and pairs in the films, where el-Mohandes appears in dual roles of good and evil, or the authentic Egyptian and the criminal foreigner. Finally; how comedy opened a spaced for the suppressed subconscious to breathe during the Nasserite period. A space where comedy allowed society’s subconscious to reveal what it did not dare to consciously say; about the domination of the regime, the rule of symbolic violence and the tightening grip of the security forces, all while contradicting the Nasserist discourse about freedom.
