The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema & Tv
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
      • Shows
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

London Film Festival 2014

Décor

London Film Festival 2014: Décor | Review
13 October 2014
Lauren Pennycott
Avatar
Lauren Pennycott
13 October 2014

Movie and show review

Release date

12th October 2014

Links

FacebookWebsite

Sunday 12th October, 6.15pm – Rich Mix

Monday 13th October, 9pm – Curzon Soho

A nod to the surrealist feeling of Alice getting lost down the rabbit hole, Décor follows the psychological jaunts of young set designer Maha’s imagination. Ahmed Abdulla creates unnervingly relentless shifts between the real, the imagined and scenes from old Egyptian black and white movies that haunt her mind. Becoming totally disoriented as to what her reality is there is no choice but to empathise with the protagonist.decor-002

Maha (Hureya Faraghili), in love with her husband and working partner Sherif, is in charge of her own life; modern, focused and confident, she suddenly finds her self transported to another life and back again with no warning.

Convincing explanations for the ever-changing props, costume and of course décor of Maha’s life begin to lessen her grip on which way is up. The transfer from life with Sherif and alternative life as wife to Mostafa and mother to Haya, we are always left in some doubt of Maha’s sanity. The details in each of the apparently parallel scenarios are the inverse of each other, dichotomies representative of decisions she has made in her past.

The opening montage is quite beautiful, with composed shots of the film set studio at work as chandeliers are lifted into place and paint is slicked onto faux walls. The romantic music and luminosity of the black and white scenes throughout are evocative of and play homage to the glamour of 1940s and 50s cinema.

There is an artful layering to the entire film that can only really be appreciated once the final scene has ended. It seems as though the winding plot, which switches and inverts almost more times than is bearable, is about the power of the mind. Its kaleidoscopic nature is confusing to the degree that one must accept that there is no certain truth.

A lengthy piece at nearly three hours it demands constant concentration, but its conclusion is rewardingly open-ended.

★★★★★

Lauren Pennycott

Décor is released in the UK on 12th October 2014.

For further information about the BFI London Film Festival visit here.

Read more reviews from the festival here.

Related Itemsbfidecorfilm festivalmoviereview

More in London Film Festival 2014

Fury

★★★★★
Cassia Morrice
Read More

Mommy

★★★★★
Liloie Cazorla
Read More

Far from Men (Loin des Hommes)

★★★★★
Joe Manners Lewis
Read More

Three Hearts

★★★★★
Cassia Morrice
Read More

Wild Life

★★★★★
Alex Finch
Read More

Loreak

★★★★★
Cassia Morrice
Read More

The President

★★★★★
Cassia Morrice
Read More

A Little Chaos premiere: A chat with the cast on the red carpet

Yassine Senghor
Read More

The Town That Dreaded Sundown

★★★★★
Michael John
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Movie and show review

Release date

12th October 2014

Links

FacebookWebsite

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Celebrate International Women’s Day with a Bombay Sapphire Cocktails & Create masterclass
    Food & Drinks
  • Kings of Leon – When You See Yourself
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Limbo
    ★★★★★
    Berlinale
  • Big vs Small
    ★★★★★
    Glasgow
  • Women in film introduce favourite female-directed features for new BFI series on 8th March
    Cinema & Tv
  • Body Brokers
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Mouthpiece
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Sentinelle
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Jesus Egon Christ (Jesus Egon Christus)
    ★★★★★
    Berlinale
  • Jesus Egon Christ: An interview with directors David and Saša Vajda
    Berlinale
  • Vicious Fun
    ★★★★★
    Glasgow
  • Berlinale 2021 winners: The full list
    Berlinale
  • WandaVision
    ★★★★★
    disney
  • Coming 2 America
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Kings of Leon – When You See Yourself
    ★★★★★
    Album review
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

London Film Festival 2014: A Second Chance | Review
London Film Festival 2014: The Keeping Room | Review