[1] The film is directed by Atef El Tayeb, features a screenplay by Mohsen Zayed based on the novel of the same title by Naguib Mahfouz, and stars Nour El-Sherif, and Hala Sedki.
The film adapts the novel's unconventional storytelling while hewing closely to the periods in which the narrator, Jaafar Ibrahim al-Sayed, set the tale.
A metaphysical allegory, the film discusses man's endless search for safe harbor since his descent into the world with original sin and free will as his eternal burdens.
He abandons his studies at Al-Azhar University to follow his heart and marry the Roma shepherd Marwana, to which the grandfather objects and banishes him from the palace.
Jaafar then marries a rich woman named Mrs. Huda, who spurns his intention to mooch off her, prompting him to study law to start a respectable career.