Joseph‘s narrative constitutes the last story in the first book of the Torah. In the Bible it is told in a straightforward, chronological manner. This film, a 1995 entry in the TNT Bible Collection, plays around with the storytelling structure with fascinating results.
Anyone familiar with the story of Joseph (Yusef in Arabic and Islamic tradition) might expect this film to start with Joseph’s birth as the long awaited first born of Rachel, the favorite wife of Hebrew-Canannite Patriarch Jacob. I certainly wasn’t prepared for the film to start in Egypt, with Yusef as a member in Potiphar’s house.
Nor was I prepared for, as Kate put it, the movie to be “horny in the worst way possible.”
Because the film is quite sexy in the early sections, notably when Yusef, both the manager of and slave within Potiphar’s household, is set upon by Zuleikha, Potiphar’s wife.1
Zuleikha has set her sights on Yusef, she finds him physically desirable and attempts to seduce him into sleeping with her. It is clear from the performance and writing that Yusef appreciates her beauty and isn’t uninterested in her. When she comes on to him in a bath, reaching below the camera line to grab his bits, it takes great strength on his part not to “give in.” He only rejects her because of the breach of trust between and his Master it would engender.
Zuleikha, angry that Joseph has rejected her, claims that he attempted to force himself on her. He is taken before Potiphar, where Joseph explains that he has seen the evils that come of rape, and would never commit the act. He then tells Potiphar his whole life story.
He starts with the story of Dinah, his sister, being raped and the destruction and violence it brought to the family and to the perpetrators. Unfortunately the “evil” it seems Joseph is alluding to isn’t the violence perpetrated against Dinah, who is a background character in this story, but rather his family being forced to move while his mother Rachel is heavily pregnant with her second child. The child is born somewhat early, and Rachel dies from the childbirth, and is buried on the road as a result. A huge loss for the family.
Joseph tells the rest of his story, speaking of the enmity his brothers have for him as the oldest child of their father’s favorite wife, of his father giving him a “princess dress” (hebrew meaning of the raindbow coat you might be more familar with) that indicates his status as beloved child, how he his made Jacob’s heir, and eventually how his brother’s plot to get rid of him, preferably through murder. He is saved by the appearance of slave traders, whom he is sold to.
The film continues to show his brother’s plotting, their attempt to make it look like a wild animal ate Jospeh, and the resulting grief of Jacob. How Joseph was able to tell this part of the story to Potiphar, when he didn’t know it yet himself, is not touched on and I think intentionally handwaved by the filmmakers. At this point we’re watching the story as it happened, not so much as Yusef is narrating it.
Yusef, being sold at auction in Egypt, is bought by Potiphar -captain of the Pharoah’s Guard – and due to his skill as an administrator, quickly finds himself placed in charge of Potiphar’s household. And drawing the eye of Zulkeiha.
Once Joseph’s story is told, Potiphar passes judgement. He doesn’t believe Yusef is guilty, but has to maintain certain appearances. It would not do for his wife to been seen to have falsely accused by a slave, therefore as a result of his status in the home Yusef is imprisoned.
Yet, still a man of discipline and integrity, Yusef works his way through the prison hierarchy, becoming the overseer of the prison and a trusted advisor amongst the prisoners and the guards. He becomes understood as a man of wisdom and when the Pharoah’s Wine Taster and Royal Baker are brought into the prison on treason charges and start having unexplainable dreams, Yusef is consulted as dream diviner.
Much as he did years earlier for his own dreams, Yusef interprets the dreams of the two men, and both dreams come true according to his prediction. This results in the Wine Taster being freed from prison and returned to Pharoah’s side, and when the Pharoah has dreams of his own, the Wine Taster suggests that Yusef be consulted.
This led to Yusef being pulled into the court to speak before Pharoah. The conversation pulled on a aspect of the movie that i really liked, which is that Yusef’s “One God” exists in a world of Gods, and the fact that the One God can, through Yusef, interpret Pharaoh’s dreams when the divine Pharaoh and his priests cannot, is never taken to suppose the superiority of Yusef’s God over Pharoah’s, only that Yusef is favoured by his God. While later interpretation would read the superiority of Yusef’s God into the narrative, at the time and place of these events, it would not have been supposed at all.
One of my favorite aspects of the Bible Collection series has been how the filmmakers are not wedded to current interpretative assumptions or even modern sensibilities, they are focused on the world feeling alive and true.
The story continues on much as in the book of Genesis, based on Pharoah’s dreams Yusef predicts 7 years of good harvest and 7 years of famine, and is appointed Regent in order to oversee the collection of food during the years of plenty. Yusef is given a wife from among the nobility, and becomes the second most powerful man in Egypt. Back in Canaan, Yusef’s family is affected by the famine, and following many other people at the time, Jacob sends his sons to Egypt for food from their stores.
However, Yusef recognizes his older brothers when they arrive and plots to see if their hearts have changed. He arranges for it the money that they paid with to be given back to them along with the food they bought. He also demands that if they return, they bring their youngest brother as proof that they truly care for their families.
When they eventually return, with Yusef’s younger brother Benjamin in tow, he makes it appear that Benjamin stole from him. When the older brothers immediately offer themselves to be punished instead of Benjamin, Yusef reveals that he is their brother and that he wanted to see if they had changed at all.
Under his protection, his family moves to Egypt, and survives the rest of the famine, becoming part of the mass of Egyptian subjects for a time. Of course, anyone familiar with the next part of the story will know things don’t stay pretty for the family of Yusef, but that’s another story…
Once again, the writing, acting, directing, costuming, set design, and cinematography all come together to create an engaging adaptation of the final stretch of the Genesis narrative. I do wish that more of the women had been fleshed out characters. Zuleikha does nothing but lost after Yusef, Dinah is in the story only so we can see the consequences of her being raped, Rachel and Leah are background characters, and Joseph’s wife Asenath exists mostly as sounding board for him. I’m thankful books/films like The Red Tent exist, so that we can see better depictions of the women in these stories.
There isn’t anything new or truly revelatory in this film, but there doesn’t need to be for it to succeed. Aside from its failures with the women, it is an incredibly human telling of this classic story of family, betrayal and power coming from the lowest places. Once again I highly recommend this film if you want see a more grounded version of Joseph’s story than Technicolor Dream Coat
- Potiphar’s wife remains unnamed in the film, only being referred to as wife, woman, and her. I have adopted her name as found in Islamic tradition. ↩︎