The Sixth Day

Chahine delved into externalism in this literary adaptation (based on the novel by Andre Shadid) about a young grandmother attempting to save her ailing grandson during the cholera outbreak of the late 1940s. Featuring the last screen performance of Dalida, one of France’s biggest pop stars, The Sixth Day is one of Chahine’s most elusive, most philosophical treatises. It combines realism, melodrama, musical elements and fantasy in an unwieldy fable that ranks among Chahine’s most enigmatic, most uncategorizable works. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)