Rana (Taraneh Alidoosti) and her husband, Emad (Shahab Hosseini), are faced with moral choices.
THE SALESMAN
Film review by Marlene Ardoin
“The Salesman” is the Iranian film that won Best Foreign Picture at the Academy Awards this year (2017). It pays the U.S. a compliment by choosing to wrap this story around the theater production of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman.”
I was surprised that a play like “Death of a Salesman” would even be allowed in Iran. Apparently it is, with a few deletions of dialogue.
And, the husband, Emad, in this story (Shahab Hosseini), is not only a husband and actor, but a teacher. I was curious which books his school was forbidding him to use.
Emad makes a vivid point, when he tells the school messenger to just throw the rejected books in the garbage.
It is my understanding that Iran is a religion-based governmental country that sets up strict rules for a population that has a majority of young.
For example, one can be arrested for dancing provocatively in public. And a respectable woman should always cover her hair with a scarf.
What the film seems to be questioning is the ability of men and women to make their own moral judgments.
For example, a man is tempted to take advantage of a young woman. Would that woman be able to recover from the social shame and would she be able to show mercy to this man if he shows remorse?
Prostitution is brought into the question. Are prostitutes worthy of our social mercy? Apparently, this is no laughing matter. In their play, a single mom is playing this role, and the former tenant of their new apartment was a prostitute.
I think the main point being made is that each individual possesses moral strength and inner dignity.
Emad’s beautiful, young wife, Rana (Taraneh Alidoosti), shines with dignity, when she requests that her husband not take revenge. And, she takes it a step further, when she threatens to leave him, if he chooses to take revenge.
I found it interesting that Iranian students could be just as disrespectful of teachers in Iran, as they can be in the U.S.
In this film, we get a preview of all that this teacher goes through, and I think that it is safe to say, that this teacher does not deserve disrespect.
The visual images are universal. As the film opens, Emad and Rana are forced to evacuate their apartment, because it is collapsing. The foundation is unstable.
When they later return to get their things, they notice cracks in the wall above their bed. This is a foreboding sign that more bad things are about to happen to their dream of creating a family.
“The Salesman” seems to say that even the most wretched of us have personal dignity, and the most elevated in society are capable of perpetrating evil acts.
So where does a moral compass originate? Intelligence is not the answer, since it can only solve problems. The ability to feel things and to empathize with others is the origin of morality.
This film is masterful and thought provoking, but I think it could have used a few light-hearted moments.
Asghar Farhadi, Iranian film director and screenwriter of “The Salesman.”
Asghar Farhadi Biography:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asghar_Farhadi
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3/21/2017 # The Salesman