| The Unknown Woman | |
| Director: | Mahmoud Zulfikar |
| Screenplay: | Mahmoud Zulfikar Mohamed Othman |
| Producer: | Hassan Ramzy |
| Starring: | Shadia Shoukry Sarhan Kamal El-Shennawi |
| Cinematography: | Abdel Halim Nasr |
| Editing: | Fekri Rostom |
| Music: | Mounir Mourad |
| Studio: | Al Nasr Films Company |
| Distributor: | Al Nasr Films Company |
| Runtime: | 110 minutes |
| Country: | United Arab Republic |
| Language: | Egyptian Arabic |
The Unknown Woman (aliases: The Anonymous Woman, المرأة المجهولة|al-marʾa al-majhūla, El-Mara'a el-Maghola, El murra el maghoula)[1] [2] is a 1959 Egyptian film written and directed by Mahmoud Zulfikar.[3] [4]
It is based on the play Madame X.[5] The film features an ensemble cast that includes Shadia, Shoukry Sarhan, Kamal El-Shennawi, Emad Hamdy and Zahrat El-Ola.[6] [7] [8] [9] [10] It was the highest-grossing film in the Soviet Union for 1961, the only African film to ever achieve that.[11]
Fatima marries Dr. Ahmed and they give birth to Samir. She goes to visit her friend Souad, the police attack the place because it is suspicious and arrest everyone, including Fatima, she gets released but Ahmed divorces her. Fatima is forced to work as a singer in a Cabaret, the thug Abbas asks Fatima for a sum of money (a royalty) in order to protect her. Selling the lottery tickets, her son Samir becomes a famous lawyer, Abbas gets out of prison, and threatens Fatima in order to blackmail her family, so she kills him, then Ahmed is surprised by what she reached and regrets what he did to her, and her son Samir defends her and his father reveals her truth to him in public in court.