I think he is definitely threatened not just by her success but actually by the success of the whole sawalha acting dynasty.
The thought occured to me recently that i think his nose must be put out of joint by her father nadim,s success in life.(To be fair he seems quite easily intimidated/emasculated by other males and thereby overcompensates)
I think that nadim is everything mark wishes he was. He came to this country with an interesting background but on paper at least not very good prospects.Maybe his timing was right in that it was the swinging sixties and the british film industry still had a degree of flexibility and social mobility inherent in it that to my mind it has sadly now lost. He was young and talented and good looking (for some reason he always reminds me of omar sherif but anyway i digress!).He most definately was hardworking and ambitious and resolutely a self made man. So despite all obstacles he succeeds (no excuses from him about how hard life is!).He becomes a highly respected actor and if not a all and out movie star still manages to build up a pretty impressive cv that does include some big budget hollywood films.(contrast that with marks wishful thinking if you will!).In a similar vein so does julia prehaps following her fathers star.Poor mark (hey the cap fits this time!) can only look on and wonder how did they do it? Without a fuss and fanfare just being awake and through hard graft and using their talents wisely. Now marks ambitious too maybe he,d like to be associated with these people they are warm and hospitable the door is always open. They entertain well live in a nice big cosy house nadim has provided everything that he possibly could for his daughters including flats for all 3 of them.
He is the proverbial benevolent patriarch whats not to admire? In some ways nadia i think has tried to model herself on him (to say she hasn,t done it as well is probably true but seems a bit churlish to say so).
Simply because times are different now oh how we all wish we could have bought a large london property when the cost was relatively low well i know i do! (luck of the times) Also whatever you think of nadia (and i,m beginning to understand that she,s a bit of a marmite person in that people seem to love her or dislike her!) she still has always provided for her family on a material level.
The house the overflowing food/drink non stop entertainment (in the electronic sense)
she does things always regarding her career one way or another she has worked solidly for the last 20 years. Now i know she has been helped in this but it does seeem to be the cultural norm regarding nadim and his family values. Family is a clan and help each other out sometimes even to the detriment of themselves but its very much the done thing in that if you have you share.
I do not wish to be stereotypical in this but as an english women married to an immigrant for 20 years thats what i,ve seen for myself over and over again. It works for good (in that sometimes everyone prospers by this if they are skillful and know how to be resourceful)
Or it can work against people i.e what do you do when your family contains people who don,t want to pull their weight or expect a free lunch? My feeling is that nadia got caught out between the two. In that she both floats through life devil may care and yet when time demands she can pull the threads together and bow to family demands.
She is the provider (good or bad) she has through her father and family enjoyed (in a modest sense) a taste of the highlife and the rewards that brings with it (a certain degree of abundance some small measure of clout).
Contrast this with mark and his resolute determination to paint a bleak picture of impovrishment and neglect thats his visualisation of reality and to a certain extent you prosper in accordance to your beliefs?
If life is naught but a struggle and pain and nothing good comes of it well that will be your reality (so many of us have negative programming about this its not unusual) Maybe he thought that by association to the sawalha,s he too could be a part of a feast but unfortunately he has become instead the beggar because sadly even though he is intelligent his core belief system is one of bleakness and deprivation.
