Saudi Star Yacoub Alfarhan on the Male-Female Dynamic in Groundbreaking Drama ‘Norah’: ‘It’s Not About Sex. It’s About Discovering the Other’
variety.comNick Vivarelli International Correspondent Rising Saudi Arabian star Yaqoub Alfarhan, who is known for playing the titular drug trafficker and serial killer in hit MBC TV series “Rashash,” plays a very different role in the drama “Norah” by pioneering Saudi director Tawfik Alzaidi, which is set in 1990s Saudi Arabia when conservatism was at its height and all forms of art and painting were banned for religion-related reasons.
In “Norah,” which world premiered at the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, Alfarhan plays an artist named Nader who has given up painting and moved to a remote village to be a schoolteacher.
There he intersects with this film’s titular character, played by Saudi newcomer Maria Bahrawi. “Norah” is an illiterate orphaned young woman who faces an arranged marriage in which she will be trapped and has a need for self expression.
Their chaste encounter unleashes in “Norah” a passion for art and, by extension, for a better life away from the village. Variety spoke to Alfarhan at the Red Sea fest about the nuances of his powerful character and the film’s cultural context. With “Norah” you’ve gone from playing an epitomal bad guy to a heroic repressed artist.
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