Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is a sweet little film about contained, restrained people who are changed irrevocably by grandiose dreams – in this case the desire of a money-no-object Yemeni sheik to introduce salmon to the watercourses of the Yemen. As a movie it mostly works. The only time it doesn’t are the Evelyn Waugh-esque scenes of coarse-ish slapdash humour, which don’t quite gel in a movie which is otherwise quite whimsical. But I enjoyed it anyway. Emily Blunt is just lovely as ever. Ewan McGregor as the Asperger’s-suffering fishing expert is great too.
As for locations, the Yemen (where foreigners are regularly kidnapped) was clearly out of play, so once again Morocco stepped in – this time Ouzazarte in the Atlas Mountains. The Scottish pile of the Yemeni prince is actually Ardverikie House, which Brit viewers would have recognised from the tv series Monarch of the Glen.