Cairo Station

Released Jan 16, 1958

1h 16m

Drama

List

100%

Tomatometer

17 Reviews

88%

Audience Score

250+ Ratings

A newspaper dealer kidnaps the woman he loves, with tragic consequences.

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Adam Kempenaar

Filmspotting

Chahine weaves characters and plotlines together as busily as passengers come and go from the title station.

Rated: 3.5/5

Aug 4, 2023

Full Review

Richard Brody

New Yorker

The Egyptian director Youssef Chahine stars in his teeming, sharp-eyed populist drama, from 1958, which blends a sympathetic view of a wide array of characters, warmhearted glimpses of their private dramas, and audacious social criticism.

Apr 7, 2016

Full Review

Jamie Russell

BBC.com

With its tense score, contrasting performances of Chahine (twitchy and tightly coiled) and Rostom (sexy but cruel) and audacious moments of formal brilliance Cairo Station is a cinematic triumph.

Rated: 5/5

Aug 11, 2014

Full Review

Dennis Harvey

48 Hills

...a vivid slice of lower-class city life...

Jan 22, 2024

Full Review

Josh Larsen

LarsenOnFilm

There’s a lurid nature to Cairo Station that recalls Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil...

Rated: 3.5/4

Aug 9, 2023

Full Review

Wael Khairy

The Cinephile Fix

Chahine is judging an entire system by forcing us to see that city through the eyes of a psychopath. It is extremely difficult for a director to handle a picture from both a macro and micro perspective, but Chahine manages to pull it off beautifully.

Jul 5, 2023

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Leaburn O

Stands up well to the passage of time. This story about an outsider and his disturbing besotted obsession with a pretty lady, soon veers into dangerous territory. Seems quite a controversial topic for its day. Enjoyed it though as it felt very atmospheric.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

05/23/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Yeah, this was not for me. I couldn't believe any of it. Just all seemed incredibly fake, forced, and frenetic. The acting was very forced. some of it laughably bad; which more reviews would admit if they weren't all written by the same ilk that are afraid to knock anything of this kind to not seem out of touch or to not get this 'neorealism' (whatever that is). The cat was better than any of the humans. Is this some sort of Arabic 'Oh Mice and Men'? Of Madhhuul and Men? 2 stars

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

Full Review

William L

Egypt's lack of a particularly developed international film industry can be understood in part by historically limited opportunity - a monarchy that limited expression until its dissolution in 1952 was closely followed by a similar effect when the process was nationalized in 1966. But to say that there was no capable or interesting expression in the medium by Egyptian production teams, particularly in those intervening years, would likely be a mistake, and one film that has emerged in recent decades as a representative of that belief is Chahine's Cairo Station. A sexually charged thriller that focuses on repression and gender dynamics within a country undergoing social changes (an Egypt where characters weave between the statues of pharaohs while peddling Coca-Cola), the film is equal parts Hitchcock and Neorealist. Chahine brings together a diverse cast of individuals whose primary shared trait is the station itself, the lifeblood from which individuals earn a substantial or impoverished living, and uses the differences between them to illustrate class and social struggles peculiar to Egypt, as well as taking on an early attempt at disassociative gender roles, with his own character viewing Rostom's Hannuma as an idealized figure who must be altered when she doesn't adhere to the image he's crafted out of magazine cutouts. The two halves of the film (exploring organized labor and male/female relationships) feel relatively distinct from one another, and the former is not nearly as compellingly designed, but the ambition is certainly notable. The arguments over labor meetings just don't seem to strike the same chord as blood dripping out of a damaged shipping crate onto an oblivious attendant's shoe. With a who's who of midcentury Egyptian acting and production talent (particularly Chahine's own frustrated, delusional Qinawi), Cairo Station deserves a watch as a film with a domestic focus and theme, but a series of clearly international influences and an engaging narrative. (3.5/5)

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

05/31/21

Full Review

georgan g

Interesting from a cultural and film history perspective.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Brilliantly well directed. I loved how we had so many glimpses of so many different stories that just happened to occur around the central plot.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/15/23

Full Review

pierluigi p

Hitchcock and Italian neorealism cross paths in this thrilling Egyptian gem. A great character study.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Youssef Chahine

Director

Youssef Chahine

Qinawi

Nadia Lutfi

Actor

Farid Shawqi

Actor

Mohamed Abu Youssef

Writer

Abdel Hay Adib

Writer

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Synopsis

A newspaper dealer kidnaps the woman he loves, with tragic consequences.

Director: Youssef Chahine
Screenwriter: Mohamed Abu Youssef, Abdel Hay Adib
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Production Co: Columbia
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Arabic
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 16, 1958, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 17, 2020
Runtime: 1h 16m