ROOM TO RENT

Year: 2000
UK: UIP (UK)
Cast: Rupert Graves, Juliette Lewis, Anna Massey, Saïd Taghmaoui, Clementine Celarie, Karim Belkhadra
Director: Khalid Al-Haggar
Countries: France / UK
UK: 95 mins
UK Certificate: 15 strong language, moderate sex and sexual references
UK Release Date: 22 June 2001

Synopsis

A comedy, ROOM TO RENT follows the story of an Egyptian writer Ali, played by Saïd Taghmaoui, who has been living in Britain on a student visa that is now due to expire. Living in rented accommodation he manages to get himself thrown out of his flat when the landlord finds the script he's been been writing and takes a dislike to the content.

He gets help from Vivienne (Clementine Celarie), his married lover and she organises new lodgings with her gay friend Mark (Rupert Graves). Inept at staying on the right side of people this doesn't last long when Mark takes offence at another script that Ali is writing, based on a gay man. Ali, seeking asylum in Britain and desperate to stay, has an arranged marriage to Linda (Juliette Lewis) and so he continues to dodge the authorities in his struggle to avoid deportation.