This Iranian film (2011, MC-95, FC#4, NFX) certainly deserved its Academy Award as best foreign film, and its high critical ratings. With Kiarostami, Mahkmalbaf, and Panahi in exile or jail, it’s heartening to know that there is still a tradition of bold serious cinema in Iran. Asghar Farhadi cannily dodged the censors to complete a film of truth, daring, and complexity, as domestic differences escalate into social conflict and near-tragedy. The wife wants to take advantage of a limited exit visa and leave Iran with her 11-year old daughter, but the husband insists on staying to take care of his father, who is declining into dementia. Granted neither divorce nor custody, the wife moves in with her parents. The daughter, who is perpetually caught in the middle (and affectingly portrayed by the director’s own daughter), chooses to stay with her father and to act as go-between. The family is well-off and secular, but the man hires a poor religious woman to look after his father. Difficulties ensue, which involve legal proceedings that leave the viewer with ever-shifting perceptions of truth and morality. It’s an ordinary situation that gathers extraordinary dimension and suspense of judgment. The film is very foreign to Americans, and yet familiar and intensely engaging, really a model of the moral force of cinematic art.
No comments:
Post a Comment