Beatrice Dalle: A starlet with courage

CAIRO – 13 October 2017: Alexandria Film Festival's 33rd edition honored the French starlet Beatrice Dalle for her long career in European and international cinema on Tuesday.

The seminar was led by critic Nemat Allah Hussein, and Dalle answered the questions in French, but was nevertheless keen to accommodate the audience by taking pictures with everyone who asked. One thing was indubitable about her; Dalle gained unprecedented popularity in Alexandria.

During the seminar, Dalle was greeted by the audience for accepting to come to the festival despite the negative image propagated about the area at the moment.

Dalle explained that she does not care about politics, but deals with it from a humane perspective, and refuses human suffering and misery wherever and however they may exist. She also said that she visited Sabra and Shatila after the massacre in 1982, and took a firm stance against the crime based on the same principle; no to crimes against humans.

While shooting, she is an easygoing actress; allowing the director to completely take over. “My main mission is to choose the role; I am always keen to present meaningful roles, and I do not work for material gain or money; it would be prostituting my talent if there is no depth in the role,” she declared proudly.

The 52-year-old movie star has more than 50 movies to her name so far; her joyful personality gave the seminar – which was organized in her honor – a beautiful glow, an aura of ease. She expressed her love for Egypt to a completely different extent; Dalle wishes to play the role of Hatchepsut, the ancient Egyptian queen.


Like many French, Dalle read about the old Egyptian civilization and admires Queen Hatechepsut, wishing to play her character on the screen. Reading about Egypt is not the only connection she has with Egypt; she met Omar Sherif in Cannes Festival more than a decade ago and fell for his charm in spite of the age difference.


On the night the Egyptian National Football team qualified for the World Cup, millions of Egyptians took to the streets to celebrate and Dalle joined in. “I am always asked if I was Arab when I am in Paris, that night I was one,” she said. In her first visit to Egypt, she was eager to get to know the Egyptian people and was welcomed everywhere she went. She hopes it will not be her last trip to the land of the Nile.


Dalle has very little knowledge of Egyptian and Arab cinema. There are no Arab movies showing commercially in France, and that explains the lack of familiarity with it; “but I worked with Yosri Nasr Allah in the movie ‘The Sun’s Door,’ showing the Palestinian exodus since before al-Nakba of 1948.” She also starred in “La fille de L’air,” which was directed by the Lebanese Maroun Baghdadi. She wished she could have worked with the late Youssef Chahine, but the opportunity never presented itself.

Dalle stated that Egypt is safe, and she visited many landmarks in Alexandria, and is on her way to visit the Pyramids before leaving Egypt.