A married couple need to relocate out of their apartment in a hurry - as he's teaching by day and they're both rehearsing a production of "Death of a Salesman" by night, there's little time for them to find anywhere until an alternate apartment is offered by a cast member. But everything's thrown into chaos when the wife is suddenly assaulted at home and the aftermath provides further fractures between them.
Director Asghar Farhadi's film won best film at the oscars and it's an intriguing work - at the broad plot outline, this could be another Death Wish, with the wife nothing more than a plot prop for the man to prove his worth through extreme violence. But this isn't that kind of movie - instead, the ruptures within are more serious - they're both tied to Iranian cultural mores, and entirely intrinsic to the characters and their own personal perspectives.
I do think this drags a little in some spots - in particular, the parallels with the "Death of a Salesman" plot are mild enough to be almost unnecessary - but the climax flips our perspective further, widening the circle of sympathy beyond anything we might have expected. Intriguing.
No comments:
Post a Comment