The Perfect Candidate

2020 1h 44m AR

👍

6.7

SOLID

★6.7TMDB · 103

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A young Saudi doctor campaigns for a seat on the municipal council, finding confidence as she combats prejudice.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Mila Al-Zahrani
Dr. Maryam Alsafan
Nora Al Awadh
Sara
Dae Al Hilali
Selma
Khalid Abdulrhim
Abdulaziz
Shafi Al Harthy
Mohammed
Mohamed Othman
Himself
Nojoud Ahmed
Dr. Abeer
Khadeeja Mua'th
Khadeeja

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Haifaa al-Mansour
Writers: Haifaa al-Mansour, Brad Niemann
Languages: English, Arabic
Countries: Germany, Saudi Arabia

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 6 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Arabic.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: Germany, Saudi Arabia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Haifaa al-Mansour, shot by Patrick Orth. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Volker Bertelmann. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Andreas Wodraschke shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Mila Al-Zahrani and Nora Al Awadh and Dae Al Hilali carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt6971114 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Haifaa al-Mansour directs. Patrick Orth behind the camera. Volker Bertelmann scores. Andreas Wodraschke cuts. Produced in Germany, Saudi Arabia. Dialogue in English, Arabic.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 6 years ago.
2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Arabic.
3International production across 2 countries: Germany, Saudi Arabia.
4Directed by Haifaa al-Mansour, shot by Patrick Orth. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Volker Bertelmann. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Andreas Wodraschke shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Mila Al-Zahrani and Nora Al Awadh and Dae Al Hilali carry the top of the cast.
8IMDB entry: tt6971114 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Released under 14 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Patrick Orth
Original score: Volker Bertelmann
Editing: Andreas Wodraschke
Production design: Olivier Meidinger
Costume design: Heike Fademrecht
Sound: Olaf Mehl
Runtime: 104 min · 1h 44m
Status: Released
Box office: $1,338,195
Original language: AR
IMDB: The Perfect Candidate (2020)

Also by

Haifaa al-Mansour

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Louisa Moore - Screen Zealots2020-03-27
★ 4/10
The first Saudi woman to direct a feature film (“Wadjda”), Haifaa Al-Mansour, brings her unique voice and perspective to her follow-up movie, “The Perfect Candidate,” the story of a female doctor who decides to run for a local political office. The film lends an insider’s look at life in modern-day Saudi Arabia and the changing role of women in a country known for its restrictive gender customs. Maryam (Mila Al Zahrani) is an ambitious young doctor working in a small town medical clinic. She’s well-educated and smart, yet she gets daily pushback from many of her male patients and has to work twice as hard to earn the respect of her male colleagues. After she is prevented from traveling to Dubai in search of a better job, a paperwork mix-up leads Maryam to become a candidate for her local city election. Since she wants to make her town a better place, including her major platform of getting the road to the hospital paved, Maryam and her sisters (Dae Al Hilali, Nora Al Awadh) begin planning fundraising and campaign events while their widowed musician father is away on tour. Her candidacy is as challenging as you’d expect, but the woman never loses her sense of determination to move her traditional society forward. Al-Mansour’s film, which she also co-wrote, is appropriately serious but filled with lighthearted moments. It’s impossible not to root for Maryam to succeed when she’s challenging the patriarchy of a society that continues to marginalize women. Saudi Arabia’s customs still seem outdated and oppressive by most of the world’s standards, but it’s also sobering to realize that women in every corner of the planet can still face similar pushback when they’re seen as trying to rock the boat. This feature would’ve worked much better as a short film, as it only becomes truly interesting once Maryam announces her candidacy. Everything else is painfully slow going up until that point, and the pacing is too sluggish. The story stalls even further with random, stagnant interludes that feature traditional music (be it a music lesson, a band concert, or a simple song shared between two sisters). In the end, the film is inspirational and shows the ability we all have to change attitudes, one person at a time. A modest act of defiance may start on the local level, but those small steps eventually add up for the greater good.

Production companies