The feature debut of longtime Youssef Chahine assistant Atef Hetata centers on a teenage boy caught in an ever-tightening vise between incestuous longings for his mother and the authoritarian temptations of religious fanaticism. When his high-school teacher begins courting his mother, the sexually confused Mohamad gears his massive Oedipus complex towards a dangerous sect of religious fanatics who convince him that, being a man, he should have total control over her life. The Closed Doors reveals a finely balanced portrait of various social classes caught in a swirl of religious, cultural, and personal fixations, done with remarkable sympathy, sensitivity, and control.