Search Results

“... The​ films of the Iranian director Asghar Farhadi keep us guessing in all kinds of interesting ways, but also make us wonder whether guessing is what we should be engaged in. The questions the plots may or may not answer are not the same as the ones that keep bobbing up in the narrative gaps or on the margins ...”

“... Asghar Farhadi’s​  The Salesman is too poised and immaculate for its own good, but full of disturbing undercurrents all the same. Of course, since the film has just won the director his second Oscar – the first was for A Separation (2011) – we could also say it knows exactly what’s good for it, but the two thoughts are perhaps not entirely opposed ...”

“... curators claim, ‘Iranian culture, even beyond fine art, travels well.’ They cite the films of Asghar Farhadi and the popularity of Persian food. ‘Travelling well’ is another way of saying that Iranian culture wields soft power. In Iran Modern Pahlavi staked her claim explicitly, claiming to be ‘testament to the influence of soft power to change ...”