"Salmon Fishing
in the Yemen", the film
Salmon
Fishing in the Yemen is
a 2011 British romantic comedy-drama
film directed by Lasse Hallström and starring Ewan
McGregor, Emily Blunt, Kristin Scott Thomas and Amr Waked.
The screenplay is by Simon Beaufoy, based on the novel of the
same name by Paul Torday. Principal photography began on 6 August
2010 and was shot on location for nine weeks in London, Scotland and Morocco. The
film premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film
Festival
Alfred “Fred”
Jones (Ewan McGregor) is a man with Asperger’s
syndrome who is the British government expert in salmon fisheries. When
consultant Harriet Chetwode-Talbot (Emily Blunt),
representing a wealthy Yemeni sheikh (Amr Waked),
asks for help to fulfill the sheikh’s vision to introduce salmon fishing to
the desert country of Yemen,
Fred rejects the idea as unfeasible. However, the Prime Minister's press
secretary, Patricia Maxwell (Kristin Scott Thomas) fastens onto it as a
“good will” story of Anglo-Arab cooperation to distract the voters from ongoing
bad news out of Afghanistan, and pressures Fred into working with Harriet and
the sheikh to implement the project. He gradually comes to believe in the
sheikh’s quest. Estranged from his career-minded wife, Fred falls in love with
Harriet, whose boyfriend Robert (Tom Mison)
has just gone missing in action in the war. After Fred declares
his love to Harriet, Robert returns alive, requiring her to choose between the
two men. The fish are released and the project seems to be succeeding, but it
is sabotaged by local militants who destroy the salmon runs. But when Fred sees
some fish have survived, he regains his faith, and Harriet joins him to fulfill
the sheikh’s vision.
Official movie trailer
