In this riveting, insider’s perspective on life in Iran’s capital city, Marzieh—a terminally ill actress—wearily relates her desperate quest for political asylum through a series of interviews with an unsympathetic government official. Beginning with details of her doomed relationship with an Iranian-born Australian and their plan to relocate to Adelaide, she recounts her struggle to work as an actress under Iran’s current regime, her hope for a future ultimately dashed by the devastating discovery of her illness, and her need to “escape” the only home she has ever known. Set against the backdrop of Tehran’s thriving arts culture, and framed through a series of artful and dramatic flashback sequences, poet-turned-filmmaker Granaz Moussavi boldly registers the trials of a modern woman struggling to flourish in Iran’s contemporary political climate. –Global Lens
While the story behind the movie is courageous, that doesn't make the movie itself a great movie. It's an OK movie which offers insights into modern Iran to those of us who have never experienced it - and who, I hope, never experience anything like it.
How unfairly vast the chasm between each individual existence... Marzieh Vafamehr's performance has both a soft vulnerability and hard pragmatism that grips you and tugs at your empathy. There's a quiet realism to the way the drama is presented that keeps it from crossing over to cornball territory. The beauty and darkness of Tehran comes through.
Hey, can anybody help me to find this film on DVD or anywhere else I really need to watch it pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase!!!
Also: The Passion of Joan of Arc accompanied by Adrian Utley (Portishead) and Will Gregory (Goldfrapp).
"In the nearly 30 years I've been writing about movies for LA Weekly," begins FX Feeney, "no moviemaking genius has meant more to me than