Patricia Clarkson in 'Cairo Time'

It's been said before and will be said again, but Patricia Clarkson is usually the best thing about the work she's in, and that certainly includes Ruba Nadda's sweetly obvious "Cairo Time."

It's easy to see what would attract such an actress to such a project - as good as Clarkson is, she's rarely the lead. But as Juliette Grant, whose journey to Egypt involves a journey - yes - into her own soul (cue the violins, and ouds), she rules. She also eclipses several wonders of the world and puts flesh and blood on a character who's otherwise as predictable as heat in the Sahara.

Clarkson gives a performance that's physical as well as emotional: Juliette arrives in Egypt jet-lagged, delicate and with a complexion like milk - she'll soon be tanned and blooming. She is met at the airport by the handsome Tareq (Alexander Siddig), who informs her that her husband, Mark (Tom McCamus), has been detained in Gaza, but that he is at her service.

"Cairo Time" is not about anything specific, not sex, not loneliness, not even marital ennui: When Mark arrives, there's evident, and mutual, affection. What makes Juliette flourish is the exoticism of Cairo, Tareq's Old World charm and his near-embarrassment at the poverty and sexism of his culture.

It's all more than predictable, but the more grievous flaw of "Cairo Time" is that Nadda's script never gets us to a place where we feel that Juliette and Tareq were meant to be. As radiant as Clarkson is, she can't drag us over that narrative sand dune.