Unemotional, restrained cinematographic poem, situated in a wintry and poor suburb of Tehran. A man is dismissed and his lack of prospects for the future make him decide to seek his happiness abroad. He leaves his wife and child behind and for a long time nothing is heard of him. Then a stranger turns up, a car mechanic looking for a job. The attractive single mother can’t resist his attentions. Very subtly, a struggle ensues that reflects that of a whole generation of young doubting Iranians who may want to leave the country, but hardly know how to start.
Cinematography
Snow-blanketed Tehran suburbs shot with devastating restraint.
Direction
Pitts lets absence speak louder than any dialogue could.
Acting
Hajjar's wordless endurance carries the film's emotional weight.
Director
Rafi Pitts
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released during Ahmadinejad's presidency, the film's emigration themes were politically charged—Pitts himself left Iran for France after production difficulties.
The railway scenes were shot at actual border crossings used by undocumented Iranian emigrants; Pitts embedded documentary urgency into fiction.
IR
