The Morphine Melody
| The Morphine Melody | |
|---|---|
 Official Poster | |
| Directed by | Hicham Amal |
| Produced by | Hicham Amal |
| Written by | Hicham Amal |
| Starring | Hicham Bahloul
Yasmina Bennani Hassan Badida |
| Cinematography | Christophe Larue Ahmed Boutgaba |
| Edited by | Hicham Amal |
Production company | Caravan Chergui Productions |
| Distributed by | Caravan Chergui Productions MAD Solutions |
Running time | 89 minutes |
| Country | Morocco |
| Language | Arabic |
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The Morphine Melody (Arabic: ميلوديا المورفين, French: La Mélodie De La Morphine) is a 2019 Moroccan drama produced and directed by Hicham Amal. The film starts Hicham Bahloul as Saïd Ettayer, a talented and well-known violinist who lost his memory in a car accident. He gradually starts to remember all his souvenirs and he get back to his normal life after a few days. However, months later, he realizes that he can’t remember how he used to create music.
Plot[edit]
"Saïd Ettayer" is a talented and well-known music composer. He meets an undeniable success with his melodies. In a few years, he made a spectacular career and became a living icon in his domain. He meets “Nawal”, an unknown aspiring young singer, and helped her to climb the stairs up to success and fame by producing many of her albums. Afterwards, she becomes his spouse and the love of his life.
This fabulous story finds its end the day “Saïd Ettayer” has a car accident...
Injured in the head, Saïd lost his memory in a temporary amnesia caused by the shock. He gradually starts to remember all his souvenirs and he get back to his normal life after a few days. Afterwards, he organizes, with his wife, a party in his house to celebrate his full recovery. During this night, he has an offer from a big advertising company to work on a music jingle for the publicity of “Nokidaminfine”, a new pharmaceutical product set to be launched on the market. It's a morphine drug.
Saïd spends many days working on the jingle without finding ideas of music. He was surprised to realize that the project took a long time as he used to find advertising melodies easy to be made and don't need great efforts. He keeps looking for weeks, until he finally understands that he can't remember how he used to create music anymore. He lost his gift in the car accident.
Uncapable to work for many months, Saïd sees his life going down like a fallen star. He loses his house and spends all the money he had. He sees his wife leaving him in a brutal way.
Saïd moves to live inside an underground room in a poor neighborhood. He starts a new life filled with pain and failure. But he never loses hope to get his gift back. He starts a journey where he tries everything to find inspiration and to create melodies.
A journey that will take him to discover many truths about himself.
Cast[edit]
- Hicham Bahloul as Saïd Ettayer.
- Yasmina Bennani as Nawal.
- Hassan Badida as the father.
- Mohammed Choubi as the Doctor.
- Abdellah Bensaid as Bob/K,
- Mohammed Boussalem as the producer.
- Narjiss Halak as the drug dealer.
- Zakaria Atifi as the charlatan.
- Fatima Ifriqi as the interviewer.
- Hamid Najah as the rag-and-bone man.
- Jawad Saghour as the agent.
Crew[edit]
- Director: Hicham Amal
- Screenwriter: Hicham Amal
- Producer: Hicham Amal
- Director of the photography: Christophe Larue - Ahmed Boutgaba
- Montage: Hicham Amal
- Sound: Rachid Agdid - Ahmed Faïq
- Artistic director: Brahim Batta - Mustapha Oubella
- Costumes: Mustapha El Mhamedi - Driss El Mhamedi
- Make-up artiste: Imane Nihni
Production[edit]
“The Morphine Melody” was produced by the company “Caravan Chergui Productions”. The project was initially set as a short film.[1]. In this format, the movie was selected in official competition at the Dubai international film festival (Muhr Arab shorts)[2]. It was its first and only screening as a short film.
After its participation in DIFF, the producer and director Hicham Amal decided to turn this story into a feature film. Additional shootings were made in two different location (Agadir and Casablanca) and a first version was made to participate in international film festivals. “The Morphine Melody” received two prices at the Moroccan national film festival (Best editing and best first feature film, Tangiers[3]). However, this version of the movie was uncompleted due to the unavailability of the leading actor, Hicham Bahloul, who has a serious car accident and was unable to work for many months[4]
At the end of 2018, Hicham Bahloul completed his last parts in “The Morphine Melody”. He also recorded 39 hours of voice over for the film. The editing of the VO took six months and the final version was completed in June 2019. The first screening of the final version of the movie was at the 42nd edition of the Caïro International Film Festival (Horizons of Arab Cinema Competition)[5]
References[edit]
- ↑ Amal, Hicham (2013-12-11), Melodia al morphine (Drama), Zakaria Atifi, Hasan Badidah, Hicham Bahloul, Yasmina Bennani, Caravan Chergui Productions, retrieved 2021-02-07
- ↑ Contributor (2013-11-28). "Shorts contend for coveted award at DIFF". Screen Africa. Retrieved 2021-02-07.
- ↑ Contributor (2013-11-28). "Shorts contend for coveted award at DIFF". Screen Africa. Retrieved 2021-02-07.
- ↑ "L'état de santé de Hicham Bahloul reste "critique"". Maghress. Retrieved 2021-02-07.
- ↑ "Horizons of Arab Cinema Competition – Cairo International Film Festival". Retrieved 2021-02-07.
External links[edit]
- Critic (French): La mélodie de la morphine” ou la naissance d'une vision cinématographique prometteuse
- Critic (French): Cette musique qui ne change pas le monde
- IMDB PAGE (Short film version): Melodia al morphine
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