Reviews of Women Without Men
Displaying all 3 reviews
Mutt
9May10
Iranian-American visual artists Shirin Neshat (“The Last Word” & “Passage”) and Shoja Azari (“Windows” & “K”) adapt the magic-realist novel of the same name by Iranian author Sharnush Parsipur as the formers feature debut which won a Silver Lion and a UNICEF Award at the 66th Venice Film Festival.
Against the backdrop of the CIA backed 1953 Iranian coup d’état four woman, a divorcee, a rape victim, a prostitute and a suicide victim risen from the grave, come together in a magical orchard in search of refuge from the society which has exiled them in an oft surreal little storyline backdrop for the social commentary and artsy goings on.
Iranian exile Shabnam Tolouei is superb as the as the politicised zombie at the heart of the film whilst superb support comes from director favourite Arita Shahrzad as the dissatisfied divorcee, German TV star Pegah Ferydoni as the naive rape victim, and Hungarian shooting star Orsolya Tóth reprising her role as the prostitute Zarin.
The filmmakers betray their origins in the visual arts in this intriguing little movie which regrettably loses its focus on such apparent distractions as plot, pace, character development and social commentary in favour of the pure aesthetic which does look truly beautiful here but leaves one feeling a little un edified.
“I think it’s time to open the gate.”
- Currently 3.0/5 Stars.
Chuchaqui
1Nov09
I watched this movie through the Artfilm-Festival in Cologne where the director stated that she is always investigating the borders between art and story-telling. In this way, her film works excellent for me. There are some haunting sequences and pictures that you can see as art, but you never ever have the feeling of seeing an art-movie because at the same time it is a gripping story really well-told. I wasn’t quite as moved as some other people in the audience, but I still I find this one of the most original and beautiful films of the year.
- Currently 4.0/5 Stars.
Ramanan Sivaranjan
21Sep09
The second film I watched at the film festival was Women Without Men. The film is set in Iran, based on a book with the same name, but is a French production. I believe it was filmed in Morocco. The movie chronicles the lives of 4 women living in Iran, circa 1953, just before the American & British backed coup. Each women encounters some sort of hardship, and ends up wandering to this mysterious orchard. The film was a little bit too surreal at times: I find with films that are for the most part realistic depictions of life, introducing fantastic elements rarely works well. I find it hard to connect to the characters, since it’s unclear what’s ‘real’. The actress who plays the prostitute does an excellent job. The scene with her in the bathhouse is really well done. It’s a very pretty film, and the story is interesting enough, but on the whole I thought the film was lacking. There is certainly a lot of buzz around the film, so I might just be an idiot.
- Currently 3.0/5 Stars.