Native Name: | ست الستات |
Director: | Raafat el-Mehi |
Cinematography: | Ayman Abu el-Makarem |
Music: | Fathi al-Khamisi |
Editing: | Ahmed Daoud |
Runtime: | 123 minutes |
Studio: | Studio 13 |
Country: | Egypt |
Language: | Arabic |
Our Blessed Aunt (Arabic: ست الستات, transliterated as Sett al-Settat) is an Egyptian comedy, drama film released on June 29, 1998. The film is directed and written by Raafat el-Mehi and stars Laila Elwi, Maged el-Masry, and Magda El-Khatib. The story concerns a young Abdelaziz, who returns to Cairo from another unspecified Arab country. Coming back to his aunt Fakiha's apartment, he discovers that it has become a brothel run by a madam who denies that she is related to him.
The comedy's protagonist Abdelaziz (Maged el-Masry) returns to Cairo after working in another unnamed Arab country. Going to the apartment of his aunt Fakiha (Magda el-Khatib), he discovers that it has become a brothel. Lola (Laila Elwi), one of the prostitutes there, tries to convince him to marry her. He has them make the place a pension, but they carry on their old profession anyway. Everyone is arrested, and Abdelaziz discovers a big surprise.
Critic Nisreen al-Rashidi cited the film among others on the website 3ain, remarking that:
Egyptian cinema has presented women and dealt with their problems throughout its history, even addressing them by name, sometimes as “mara” [woman] and sometimes as “sitt” [lady]…Here we monitor ten films using the word “sitt” from the earliest days of the silver screen to today.[1]