A still from director Elie Khalifé’s collaboration with Myra Zbib. (Courtesy of Joseph Khallouf)
A middle-aged man gazes out his kitchen window, cracking walnuts. Suddenly he hears a woman’s voice.“Today I am afraid,” the voice says. “I awoke with a lump in my stomach.” Startled, the man (Elie Khalifeh) creeps from room to room, trying to find where, and who, is this uninvited guest. “It’s afternoon,” she continues, “and I can’t get out of bed, can’t get you out of bed. I am tired of carrying you, of dressing you, of taking care of you.” Assuming he’s experiencing a psychotic episode, the man calls his therapist. He flees his house, but the voice follows him.The fun of this comic scenario springs from the incongruity between the woman’s heartfelt monologue, written and voiced by filmmaker Myra Zbib, and the situation into which it’s been thrust — devised by Khalifeh, who directed the short.This untitled film is among the 17...
A middle-aged man gazes out his kitchen window, cracking walnuts. Suddenly he hears a woman’s voice.“Today I am afraid,” the voice says. “I awoke with a lump in my stomach.” Startled, the man (Elie Khalifeh) creeps from room to room, trying to find where, and who, is this uninvited guest. “It’s afternoon,” she continues, “and I can’t get out of bed, can’t get you out of bed. I am tired of carrying you, of dressing you, of taking care of you.” Assuming he’s experiencing a psychotic episode, the man calls his therapist. He flees his house, but the voice follows him.The fun of this comic scenario springs from the incongruity between the woman’s heartfelt monologue, written and voiced by filmmaker Myra Zbib, and the situation into which it’s been thrust — devised by Khalifeh, who directed the short.This...