Celia Gurevitch Jewish Community Library

Tomorrow, Wednesday, August 20, we will be showing Monsieur Ibrahim, a French-speaking, 95 minutes long, R-rated movie from 2003 with Omar Sharif and Pierre Boulanger. The full title of the movie is “Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran“, which translates to “Mister Abraham and the flowers of the Qur’an.” It is set in the 1960’s Paris, where an elderly Turkish shopkeeper befriends a young Jewish boy. The movies tag line reads, “Two different generations, two separate religions, the unlikeliest of friendships.” What these lines do not cover is how beautifully this movie was shot. The lights are playful, but in a different way, on the streets of Paris and in the Turkish desert, creating an aura for the film that makes it feel like a Sufi fable. Sharif’s Monsieur Ibrahim is deep, mystical and understanding. The film has some erotic content but ultimately I would describe it more spiritual and than anything else. Please join me for a kind a warm movie.