Harem is a 1985 French film starring Nastassja Kinski and Ben Kingsley. Directed by Arthur Joffe, the film was not rated in the U.S., but contained nudity, violence, and profanity. The film also starred Dennis Goldson.
A young American woman is kidnapped by an Arabian sheik and held captive in his harem. At first she frantically tries to escape, but as they slowly get to know and appreciate each other the difference between captor and captive dissolves. Written by Homme A. Piest
Jessica, a young British girl (Nancy Travis), goes off to Arabia with her father to be with her fiancée (Julian Sands) when he's called there suddenly on diplomatic duty. On a tourist journey she's kidnapped by what appears to be a Beduion tribe and sold into the harem of the Sultan (Omar Shariff). The man that took her captive (Art Malik) is not actually a Beduion but an Oxford educated revolutionary who traded Jessica for the release of his friends from the Sultan's prison. As her fiancée struggles to free her from the harem he inadvertently hires the very man who put her there to get her out. Meanwhile, Jessica is fending of the Sultan's advances and coming to know a new way of life. Romance, political intrigue, and the jealousies of the harem all threaten Jessica's narrow view of the world. If she escapes will she actually be able to return to life in Victorian England? Written by Susan Southall
