Netflix film Perfect Strangers challenges Middle East taboos
Perfect Strangers tells the story of seven friends who decide to share their phones’ incoming messages during a dinner party. Secrets unfold: sexting, homosexuality, loss of virginity and secret love affairs. The movie is the most remade film in cinema history. Available in 18 different languages, it has sparked conversations over loyalty, friendship and privacy. But in Netflix’s latest Arabic version, the movie has caused a different debate – one about women’s sexuality and LGBT rights and what they represent for religious and family values in the Middle East. The film is Netflix’s first Arabic movie and quickly became the most watched in the streaming company’s website in the region after it was released on January 20. It gathered particular criticism in Egypt over a scene where Egyptian actress Mona Zaki’s character is seen taking off her underwear from underneath her dress. At some point one of the male characters comes out as gay, surprising his childhood friends. Egyptian member