The International Sand Club

Character Analysis

Like Sands Through the Hourglass

We become briefly acquainted with other members of the Royal Geographical Society; a group of men mapping the desert while their wives are at home. Almásy and Geoffrey are already on the outskirts of the group here: Almásy being unmarried, and Geoffrey for bringing his wife along.

The member of the club we know most is Peter Madox, the only person Almásy can call a friend in the whole world. Almásy is devastated to learn that Madox shot himself after learning Almásy was a spy. Almásy wasn't a spy, but Madox didn't know that. He felt betrayed.

Another member of the club is Bermann, a man who seems to be having an affair with a young Egyptian boy, Kamal. This relationship seems to justify and foreshadow Almásy and Katharine's affair. Bermann says to Almásy,

"How do you explain to someone who has never been here, feelings which seem quite normal?" 

The desert is a different world with different rules. But this is a movie that punishes adultery, and Bermann, who is paying more attention to Kamal than to where he's driving, drives off a sand dune. No one is killed, but the scene shows us that adulterers meet with tragedy.

Other members of the Sand Club include D'Agostino a.k.a. D'Aggers, and Fouad. Some are British, and some are Egyptian guides. They work together, and we don't know much about them, although Fouad really knows how to move on the dance floor.