Sahara Heat

Scirocco, also known as Amantide – Scirocco and with the international title Sahara Heat, is a 1987 French drama film directed by Aldo Lado and starring Fiona Gélin.

Léa is married to engineer Alfredo who works at oil wells in the Maghreb. She visits her husband and finds that their marriage is deteriorating. She seeks relief in the exoticism the country offers and she is soon attracted to a local thug nicknamed Le Serpent she meets in the kasbah. However, her relationship with him starts to become increasingly exploitative.

• Fiona Gélin: Léa
• Enzo De Caro: Alfredo
• Yves Collignon: Le Serpent (The Snake)
• Joshua McDonald: Jeff
• Gianluigi Ghione: Stefan
• Christophe Ratendra: Hotel groom
• Alberto Canova: Kurt
• Abdellatif Hamrouni: Old Arab man
• Nadia Saiji: Gitana

Fiona Gélin tells of her ordeal during the shooting of this film: "In fact, there were nude scenes that were hidden from me and that I had to play. The result was on the verge of an erotic film. I felt betrayed, completely disoriented and I broke down. I was ashamed of myself. This led to a depression and a month in a psychiatric hospital."