Agony Of Love

A few weeks ago, I watched an old Egyptian movie. It’s called Agony of Love, starring Shadia (Amal), Omar Sharif (Hassan), and Ahmed Mazhar (Mahmoud). It’s about a simple girl who married someone in a traditional way which means she didn’t know him well enough before their marriage.
Before her wedding party, a friend of her asked: “Do you love him?” Another friend instantly said; “Of course she does, how she would marry someone she isn’t in love with!”. Amal replied to them; “True love comes softly after marriage”.

On the first night of the couple, Mahmoud was drunk. He ordered her to take his shoes off. Then, he found her cat on the bed. He carried it and threw it out of the room. Then, the big shock was when he started to kiss and hug her aggressively. It was more like rape than making love! Day by day, she was experiencing something completely different from what she had expected or dreamt of.

Later, she repeatedly met with Hassan, Mahmoud’s colleague. The love was ignited between them.
She sang a song that summarized the whole issue in a few sentences; “Why didn’t love come earlier? Why had it to happen too late?”. This is very true. There are things that we long for and they do happen but at the wrong time.

It’s the same with wishes that come true but too late. You might go through these experiences but they will be as bland as a soup you have when you’re sick. It’s when you lose the desire to have new people in your life anymore because you’re afraid of meeting the right person at the wrong time. You keep letting go of opportunities because you don’t want to face the fact that you’re not happy with your life the way it is.

The end of the movie was quite surprising and different for me. Amal got pregnant and as a result, Mahmoud started to treat her better and to take care of her physically and emotionally. She decided to maintain her marriage and let go of Hassan who went to work in a faraway city with a broken heart.