Circumstance

[osprey_archer]

Circumstance, an Iranian movie, details the stormy late adolescence of Atafeh and Shireen, best friends (and later lovers) who are acting out in every way they can. They stay out late, they drink, smoke, take drugs, they have sex with boys (and each other) and get involved in dubbing Milk, the movie about the pioneering gay activist, into Farsi.

It is ultimately the last that gets them in trouble with the morality police. Atafeh, who comes from a good family, gets off with a warning and a slightly tarnished reputation; but Shireen is an orphan, the daughter of executed political activists, and her reputation crumbles.

Enter Atafeh’s brother Mehran, who is only too happy to swoop in and marry the beautiful and option-less Shireen! Mehran has recently gotten out of rehab. Allah is his anti-drug, and he is bound and determined to convert the rest of his not-particularly-observant family, particularly his little sister, who he fears is unclean. He has, it slowly becomes clear, set up surveillance cameras throughout his own house (including his sister Atafeh’s bedroom, what is wrong with you Mehran) in order to keep tabs on his infidel family members.

Naturally, the camera in Atafeh’s bedroom eventually turns up some, uh, interesting footage…

While Circumstance doesn’t end with hearts and roses, it also doesn’t end with anyone dead, so it’s not as grim as I feared it might be. But it’s nonetheless rather a grim movie. Atafeh and Shireen take on the world in search of pleasure, but outside of each other, they don’t find very much.

Comments

[seascribe.livejournal.com]

Oh, I need to watch this.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

It's an interesting movie. I wouldn't say I enjoyed it, exactly, but...it's an interesting movie. And they sang some songs - not in a musical sort of way, in a "this is a family gathering where real people might reasonably sing" way - which I liked a lot.