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Published: 10 June, 2010
by DAN CARRIER

THIS mesmerising offering from Iranian director Shirin Neshat combines breathtaking cinematography with a well-woven story. The overall effect is haunting and hypnotic, informative and moving.

It is set against the backdrop of the 1953 coup. The overthrow of the Iranian ­government was backed by Britain and the CIA, and saw a democratically elected  prime minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, replaced by the Shah. The effects of this turmoil are still being felt today, with the Islamic revolution of the late 70s a ­counterpoint to a time in the 1950s when Iran was on a course to be a free, pluralistic and left-wing society before the West began to meddle.

We are shown the story of the coup through four, intertwined lives. The background of social and political turmoil brings them together: Fakhri, trapped in a marriage with a senior army officer who she no longer loves, has the unhappiness of her situation highlighted when an old flame returns from America with tales of Ava Gardner. 

We meet Zarin, a skin-and-bones prostitute trapped in slavery (one scene where she is scrubbing her body clean till it bleeds is particularly distressing). Then we meet Munis who, glued to the radio, has political awareness stirring within her. 

The final member of the four, Faezah, simply wants to marry Munis’s horrible chauvinistic brother. As the protests on the streets reach a crescendo, the four all seek escape through different ways, which eventually centre on a magical orchard bought by Fakhri.

Neshat has a photography background – this is her directorial debut – and it shows. From the off, she uses tricks with colour and light to tell a story. Some scenes of on-the-street protests have had the colour drained to give them an archival quality, while the scenes in the orchard appear to have sunlight bounced through the leaves. It is all really quite engrossing – a torrid tale gently told.