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Imperfect Applicant

In some countries, women are second-class citizens. In Saudi Arabia, they used to be third-class citizens. A couple of years ago, they were granted the right to drive a car so they are now almost second-class citizens. They can rise to a certain level in society, but overall, Saudi men look at women as far less than themselves.

Maryam Al Saffan (Mila Al Zahrani) is a young female doctor in a society that believes women should be in the kitchen cooking dinner while giving birth, so as not to delay their husband's or father's meal.

Maryam is working in the E.R. when an elderly man who was just in a car crash is brought in. He wants her nowhere near him, even telling her that she is forbidden to look into his eyes. He needs surgery, and after dealing with the fact that she is the only available surgeon, he tells her that she may not touch him until he is unconscious. The tone has been set in Haifaa Al Mansour's "The Perfect Candidate".

Maryam wants to go to another country to attend a medical conference but she needs a travel permit. In Saudi Arabia, the only way she can obtain the permit is through the consent of a male guardian. She can't get the permit in time for the conference and in her anger at the situation, she decides to run for a seat on the local municipal council. She is a one-issue candidate: the building of a paved road in front of her clinic.

There's also a subplot involving her father, a musician who plays the lutelike oud, in a band that's on a mini-tour for a few weeks. It's not worth saying any more about that aspect of the film.

The story never becomes exciting in the least, but it's not really about the story. It's all about the political campaign of a woman in Saudi Arabia and how it pertains to the much larger picture of a woman's place in society. It's all done professionally enough, but no new ground is plowed here.