Viewed altogether, the 'Alexandrian Trilogy' - which returned to Cannes with Adieu Bonaparte (1984), in competition, and Alexandria Again And Again (1990), in the Directors Fortnight - blend past and present in personal statements of affection for his birthplace, where all nationalities and religions are embraced without prejudice.

Lately, Chahine has been exercising his mandate as the best-known and most respected of Arab directors by expending his energies on productions challenging fanatical Islamic fundamentalism head on. For making The Emigrant (1994), which drew parallels with the Biblical story of Joseph, he was taken to court and prevented from showing the film. The ban was lifted a year later and the film went on to become one of his biggest box-office successes. In Destiny (1997), a French-Egyptian production and another Cannes competition selection, he chronicles the life of Averroes, the Arab mediaeval philosopher whose commentaries helped drag Europe out of the Dark Ages.

Now, in The Other, which opens Un Certain Regard, Chahine completes his cycle on the evils of blind fundamentalism. The film tells of a son of wealthy parents, with links to corrupt profiteers in the government, who falls in love with a principled young journalist from a humble family. When his mother comes between them, she inadvertently shows her true colours as a fanatical extremist and the tale becomes a dramatic Romeo And Juliet-style love story, shrewdly adapted to fit current Egyptian religious mores. Ron Holloway