Passion in the Desert

Passion in the Desert, or Simoom A Passion in the Desert, is a 1998 film from director Lavinia Currier based on the short story A Passion in the Desert by Honor de Balzac. The film follows the ventures of a young French officer named Augustin Robert Ben Daniels in late 18thcentury Egypt during Napoleon Bonapartes campaign to capture the country.

Augustin abandons Venture, who cannot keep up, but promises to return with aid. Venture, unable to believe that Augustin will return, commits suicide. Augustin wanders aimlessly on his own. His thirst compels him to steal water from native Bedouins, frightening a young woman who startles him in her tent. Several Bedouin men give him chase in response, and he flees to some nearby caves where he is trapped until a leopard, appearing out of nowhere, slays a Bedouin who is about to kill him.Augustin is terrified at first, then astonished when the leopard gives him food and leads him to water. Augustin and the leopard, whom he names Simoom, develop a strange and mysterious relationship, and he begins to mirror her behavior, living in the ruins of a lost city near the caves. Stripping naked, he paints his body with dirt and sand, seeking to resemble her goldenbrown fur and its rosetteshaped markings. For a while they are suspicious and competitive toward each other, but a bond has nevertheless been formed. Augustin finds himself jealous when Simoom goes to mate with another leopard, but she later returns to him. ........

Source: Wikipedia