Le Collier Perdu De La Colombe

Director: Nacer Khemir
Cast:
Navin Chowdhry … Hassan
Walid Arakji … Zin
Ninar Esber … Aziz
Noureddine Kasbaoui … Calligrapher
Jamil Joudi … Giaffar

Description: A lush and beautiful movie, indeed as if experiencing an unknown chapter of the Arabian Nights. “Le Collier perdu de la colombe” aka “The Dove’s Lost Necklace” or “The Lost Collar of the Dove” is a visually ravishing folktale reminiscent of The Thousand and One Nights. The story revolves around Hassan, who is studying Arabic calligraphy from a grand master. Coming across a fragment of manuscript, Hassan goes in search of the missing pieces, believing that once he finds them, he will learn the secrets of love. With the help of Zin, a lovers’ go-between, he meets the beautiful Aziz, Princess of Samarkand. After encountering wars, a battle between false prophets and an ancient curse, he learns that an entire lifetime would not suffice for him to learn the many dimensions of love.

The films of writer, poet and filmmaker Nacer Khemir all stand on their own, but his personal signature is easily traceable in this movie. It’s is smooth and polished as a fairy tale, and this is a pity when judged against it’s predecessor “Les Baliseurs du Désert” (“Wanderers of the Desert”, 1986) – the first part of Khemir’s Desert Trilogy. Where there was magic in the realism of “Wanderers…”, there is some mundane stuff in the magic of “The Dove…”. The movie is more colourful and seems easier to follow, the arabic spoken language is classical as opposed to the strong Tunisian accent of “Wanderers…”. Non-arabs might find the love sick student a bit over the top but it makes lots of sense in a middle eastern context and the over-emphasis on love, especially divine love was something prevalent in islamic society at those times.