MARYAM MOGHADDAM, BEHTASH SANAEEHA | IRAN, FRANCE, SWEDEN, GERMANY | 2024 | 96 MIN | PERSIAN
Two lonely 70-somethings adrift in Tehran find companionship and potential romance over the course of an eventful evening in this quietly emotional two-hander. Widow Mahin (Lily Farhadpour) leads a quiet, humdrum existence, painfully distant from her adult daughter, who’s moved to Europe. Not content to accept a life of solitude, Mahin sets her sights on another lonely septuagenarian: taxi driver Faramarz (Esmail Mehrabi). After Mahin invites Faramarz to her apartment, the pair get to know each other over the course of an unpredictable evening. As reserved conversation between near-strangers blossoms into something much more tender and vulnerable, the stakes of this clandestine courtship become more apparent. Re-teaming after their acclaimed debut Ballad of a White Cow (PFF30), writer-directors Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha have crafted an enchanting, sweetly melancholic film whose gentle surface belies a startlingly clear-eyed vision of life for women in contemporary Iran. It’s a subtle but nonetheless powerful testament to the bravery of prioritizing one’s own happiness in a society bent on suppressing it.
Cast: Lily Farhadpour, Esmail Mehrabi
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