The Salesman (Forushande)

PAST FILM SCREENING

October 4 – 2PM + 7:30 PM

Iran / France, 2016 – Rated PG – 125 minutes – in Persian with English subtitles
Written and Directed by Asghar Farhadi
Cast: Shahab Hosseini, Taraneh Alidoosti, Babak Karimi

ACADEMY AWARD – Foreign Language Film
BEST ACTOR – Cannes (Shahab Hosseini)
BEST SCREENPLAY– Cannes (Asghar Farhadi)
PALME D’OR NOMINEE – Cannes

A sudden eruption of violence creates an atmosphere of simmering tension between a husband and wife in this work of slow-burning suspense from Academy Award-winning Iranian master Asghar Farhadi (A Separation, The Past).

With their Tehran apartment block on the brink of collapse, Emad (Shahab Hosseini) and Rana (Taraneh Alidoosti) are obliged to move into a shabby nearby flat. Soon, an unfriendly visitor comes calling and there is an eruption of violence. Before we can get our bearings, Farhadi has us unnerved and locked in an elegantly rendered realm of simmering domestic tension.

Following The Salesman’s initial traumatic events, things turn strange and tense between husband and wife. Feeling vengeful and confused, Emad plays detective, while rattled Rana gives him mysteriously mixed signals. Meanwhile, the two are performing as Willy and Linda Loman in an amateur production of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, and their onstage roles begin to resonate with their fractured lives in beguiling ways.

Farhadi rose to international prominence after A Separation became the first Iranian film to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film; with The Salesman the director repeated that honour. His subtle control of camera placement and rhythm and his special gift for drawing nuanced performances from his actors are key elements of his directorial signature. But so much of his singular talent can be found in the structuring of his scripts, which draw us in, turn the screws, and leave us breathless.

“Farhadi remains a master of pace and tension, slowly upping the stakes in an unsettling narrative fuelled by a lingering sense of powerlessness, paranoia and the possibility that you never entirely know the person you love”. – Allan Hunter, Screen International