Latest news with #Mahnaz
The National
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
Woman and Child review: Iran's other Cannes Palme d'Or nominee should not be ignored
Following Jafar Panahi's Palme d'Or winner It Was Just An Accident, Woman and Child was the second Iranian film to play in this year's Cannes Film Festival main competition – and deserves to garner as much attention. Directed by Saeed Roustaee, it's another forceful work to come out of Iranian cinema at a time when filmmakers are under constant pressure in their homeland. In the case of Roustaee, he was given a suspended six months prison sentence for submitting his 2022 work Leila's Brothers to Cannes without making the necessary changes to appease the Ministry of Culture. His new film, Woman and Child, comes with an in-baked anger against the Iranian authorities. On the surface, it's a portrait of a single mother-of-two, living in modern-day Tehran. Mahnaz (Parinaz Izadyar) is an overworked nurse who's life is all harassment and little pleasure. She lives with her mother and younger sister Mehri (Soha Niasti), who lends a hand raising her two kids, the adorable Neda (Arshida Dorostkar) and the mischievous 14-year-old, Aliyar (Sinan Mohebi). Even Mahnaz's romantic life is anything but easy. After her husband passed away, she has been dating Hamid (Payman Maadi), an ambulance driver at the hospital where she works. He wants her to marry, given they have been together for two years, but she is refusing his proposals. Worse is to come, given Aliyar's behaviour at school. 'Your son is a monster' she is told, and he's certainly out of control, whether he's bullying other kids or posting videos of his frazzled teachers online. At one point, he idly breaks off a matchstick in the slot of a padlock, which chains the school gates, moments before crowds of children swarm to leave for the day. It leads to utter chaos, beautifully captured by Roustaee, who truly shows his cinematic eye throughout this film. Another striking moment comes as Aliyar runs down the stairs of his apartment block, the camera glancing down to show the cavernous interior, with its checkered floor, to some degree foreshadowing the fatal events to come. Woman and Child hinges on a midpoint narrative moment, a tragic event that changes everything, when Aliyar dies after falling from a window. At this point, he's being looked after by his grandfather (Hassan Pourshirazi), while Mahnaz is elsewhere, dealing with her potential future in-laws. Was it the grandfather's fault? The second hour of Woman and Child spirals as Mahnaz begins pursuing a legal case against her former father-in-law, as she plunges into Iran's byzantine legal system. You might call Woman and Child a melodrama, although the drama itself feels very real. While it's not as gripping as A Separation, Asghar Farhadi's award-winning tale about a couple undergoing divorce in modern-day Iran, it still engages with the complexities of Iranian law, and moral questions of guilt and responsibility. But as the title suggests, Roustaee's film is very much about the female experience, and the bond of a mother with her offspring. Arguably it's this that feels radical, a film that gives us the perspective of a modern-day Iranian woman navigating a patriarchal society. And this portrait of an independent woman, living, surviving and eventually grieving in today's Tehran, shows plenty of rebellious spirit. An important social work, this Palm D'Or winner would have been just as deserving of Cannes's top prize.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Iranian Director Saeed Roustayee on Making ‘Woman and Child' With a Government Permit and Hijabs: I Wouldn't ‘Have Been Able to Make a Film of This Scale Underground'
Iranian director Saeed Roustayee is back in Cannes with 'Woman and Child,' a female empowerment drama premiering in competition. The film follows a 40-year-old widowed nurse named Mahnaz, who is struggling with a rebellious son and other complications in a heavily oppressive patriarchal context. Roustayee's new work segues from the somewhat similarly themed 'Leila's Brothers,' which launched from Cannes in 2022 and led to the director being sentenced to jail time for screening the film without government approval, though Roustayee did not go behind bars. More from Variety Elle Fanning Declares 'Joachim Trier Summer' at Cannes Amid 'Sentimental Value' Raves, Says She's 'Grown in My Autonomy and Speaking Up' as an Actor 'The Six Billion Dollar Man' Review: Straight-Ahead Julian Assange Doc Looks Pessimistically Toward a Post-Truth World Paul Mescal Says Movies Are 'Moving Away' From 'Alpha' Male Leads, Calls It 'Lazy and Frustrating' to Compare 'History of Sound' to 'Brokeback Mountain' Paradoxically, even before 'Woman and Child' screened, the film came under fire — sight unseen — from some Iranian industry circles. They claimed that Roustayee sold out to the Iranian government because he produced the film with their permission, and also due to the fact that the women on screen all wear hijabs — which is not a realistic depiction of the current state of affairs given the widespread ongoing rebellion against the mandatory hijab rule across the country. Roustayee has been passionately defended against these accusations by fellow Iranian helmer Mohammad Rasoulof, who in May 2024 escaped from Iran to Europe after receiving a jail sentence from the country's authorities for making 'The Seed of the Sacred Fig,' which premiered at Cannes with the director in tow last year. Below, Roustayee speaks to Variety about navigating the complexities of moviemaking in his turbulent country and why he's not a sell out. After 'Leila's Brothers,' you've made another film about female empowerment. Is it fair to say you feel this theme has a special urgency, especially in Iran? Actually, 'Woman and Child' is my third film in a row that is really centered around women. And, if you notice, the female protagonists of these three films become gradually more and more independent. So whereas in 'Leila's Brothers,' Leila was independent but still counted on her brothers – she asked them to do things and so on – the protagonist of this film is completely set free of the borders that have been created for her. She acts alone. She decides alone. She decides when to forgive. She takes her revenge alone. She doesn't count on anyone. She doesn't ask for anyone's help, and she arrives to redemption alone also. The protagonist, Mahnaz, played by Parinaz Izadyar, is a struggling 40-something single mom. Do you consider her emblematic of what many Iranian women are going through today? Yes, I think there are many women like Mahnaz in Iran today. In fact, I can think of at least 10 of them around me in my personal life. I've sort of put them together, drawn inspiration from each one of them to create the character of Mahnaz. There are so many independent, often single, mothers in Iran today who have one, two, three children whom they support single-handedly. And indeed, similarly, we have many women who, in fact, support their own husbands. So it's even a question of economic independence, not just spiritual and practical independence. I always think of my job, or my filmmaking, this way. I learn from society in order to make films. I can't make films that don't draw most of their inspiration from society. Of course, then I add a bit of imagination. But I can't make a film about something that I haven't actually experienced or seen firsthand. This film sparked criticism even before being seen due to the fact that the women who appear in it are veiled. You have already made a statement about this, but can you talk to me about this choice? Shortly after 'Leila's Brothers' came out, the Women, Life, Freedom revolt took place in Iran, a movement spearheaded by women, but that gradually came to involve society as a whole. And it's a movement that, by the way, I've supported publicly. You can see that on my Instagram page, but also in terms of how I behave in society. One of the consequences of this movement is that it made people and the cinema industry much more sensitive about the whole matter of the mandatory headscarf in cinema. People were already sensitive about it and then it became even hotter as a topic. I've been observed very closely ever since 'Leila's Brothers' came out. As you may know, I've had court proceedings. The film has been accused of being one of the reasons that sparked the movement. And I was given a suspended six month prison sentence and five-year work ban, which means that if I make the slightest faux pas, I go immediately to prison and I can't make a film for five years. Whereas I certainly don't like showing women with headscarves in private spaces in Iran, I feel that there is much more attention focused on this at the moment and it was the only way I had to tell a story, considering the amount of surveillance. That, of course, involves everyone in Iranian cinema. All directors are being closely watched, but I'm under very close observation. To give you an example, during the shoot of 'Woman and Child,' production was actually shut down by the regime several times and I was brought in for questioning. Izadyar, the actress who plays the protagonist, gives a real tour-de-force performance. Talk to me about working with her on this film. I had a great experience working with Parinaz. I was looking for an actress who would dedicate at least six months to non-stop rehearsals, who would have both that type of availability and also generosity. Perinaz devoted, if not an entire year, at least 10 months without taking on any other jobs just to rehearse and then interpret Mahnaz. What was the rehearsal process like? It was very intense. We rehearsed every day in my production studio, at least eight hours a day, often 10 or even 16. And what I really wanted was an actress who would transform into the character of Mahnaz. So by the end, Perinaz, the actress was no longer Perinoz. She was Mahnaz, even in her personal life, even in her family life. You could see that by the time we got to the shoot. Yes, of course, there was mise- en-scene work, there was prepping, there was all of that. But she was already under the skin of the character. The process was so intense for her that her hair gradually became gray as the shoot progressed. At the end of the shoot, she had so many natural grays that we had to dye those black for continuity reasons. As I understand it, this film was shot with a permit, meaning that the screenplay was submitted for approval after your conviction and major opposition to your previous film. Can you talk to me about the process of getting it approved and getting it made? Regarding the choice to ask for a film permit to start with, this was not my choice. It's something that you have to do if you want to make a film on this scale. And I'd like to premise this by saying that if the situation were different in Iran, if we were in a country without a mandatory headscarf and without many other restrictions, I would've made the same film. Some of the details would have been different, maybe, in terms of what happens in private and certainly the women would be without the headscarf. But the story, the character journey and all of that would have been the same. In terms of shooting a film that is set largely in a hospital, largely in exteriors, that includes scenes shot in a high-school and so on, there's no way we could have made that without permits. And again, it was very difficult for me to get permits because I don't have a good reputation with the regime officials. They view me very badly. However, I'm very popular among the wider audience. And that's another reason why it was very important to me to make a film with permits, because it's the only way it can actually be screened in Iranian cinemas. And for me to show my films to Iranian audiences in Iranian cinemas is crucial. Especially because over the past few years, what you see in Iranian cinemas has really gone down the drain. There's a series of comedies, which I'd rather not talk about. But in terms of social cinema, it has basically disappeared. And then also lots of my cast and crew are people who are working in films made with permits. So if they were to come and work in a film without a permit, then they would be punished with the same work ban that I have been punished with, though the ban has been suspended. So it would cause lots of other problems. Now, of course, there are filmmakers making underground films without permits in Iran, who I have enormous respect for. And not just filmmakers, also casts and crews. But I don't see how I would have been able to make a film of this scale underground. I mean, it just would have been impossible. Now that 'Woman and Child' is completed, do you think it has good chances of playing in movie theaters in Iran? It all depends on how we play it from now on. [Iranian authorities] have to see the completed film. It will be seen at Cannes, and it also depends on what I say, on how I give interviews. If I say anything too oppositional, the film will not pass muster. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Emmy Predictions: Talk/Scripted Variety Series - The Variety Categories Are Still a Mess; Netflix, Dropout, and 'Hot Ones' Stir Up Buzz Oscars Predictions 2026: 'Sinners' Becomes Early Contender Ahead of Cannes Film Festival
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Woman and Child' Review: In Iran, a Single Mom Pushes Back on the Patriarchy in Nonsensical, Self-Destructive Ways
One of the thrills of watching what we once called 'foreign' films is discovering a movie from an entirely different culture and realizing just how similar we all are: Our dreams aren't so different, nor the things that make us laugh or cry. But there's always the risk of having the opposite experience, bumping up against a story where nothing corresponds and the behavior seems so illogical or inexplicable that we may as well be watching science fiction. Iranian director Saeed Roustaee's 'Woman and Child' strikes me that way, despite the fact it takes place in a modern metropolis and hails from a director with the most Hollywood touch of his compatriots. Returning to Cannes after being censured for his 2022 film 'Leila's Brothers,' Roustaee seems undeterred by the six-month prison sentence and since-lifted filmmaking ban the regime imposed on him. No surprise, Iranian authorities don't take well to Roustaee's brand of feminism — this is the third feature of his, starting with 'Life and a Day,' to center on a resilient and fairly independent woman — although he's managed to upset the other side as well by making this film with government approval. That means 'Woman and Child' was produced within certain constraints, including laws requiring its female characters to wear the hijab, even if its lead character Mahnaz ('Life and a Day' star Parinaz Izadyar) would surely object to doing so in real life. Could her haircut be taken as an act of protest? More from Variety Iranian Director Saeed Roustayee on Making 'Woman and Child' With a Government Permit and Hijabs: I Wouldn't 'Have Been Able to Make a Film of This Scale Underground' Elle Fanning Declares 'Joachim Trier Summer' at Cannes Amid 'Sentimental Value' Raves, Says She's 'Grown in My Autonomy and Speaking Up' as an Actor 'The Six Billion Dollar Man' Review: Straight-Ahead Julian Assange Doc Looks Pessimistically Toward a Post-Truth World Since her husband's death, Manhaz has been raising her two children on her own, while juggling a demanding nursing job at the nearby hospital, where she flirts with a freelance ambulance driver named Hamid (Payman Maadi, who's starred in all four of Roustaee's movies). Her son Aliyar (Sinan Mohebi) is just a teenager, but already a little hellion, showing up late to class in order to shoot dice at a local factory — one of a long list of infractions that gets him suspended for a week by Samkhanian (Maziar Seyedi) at school. Iran has different laws and customs, of course, but it's not exactly clear what's expected of a widow in Mahnaz's situation. Is she supposed to take care of her father-in-law (Hassan Pourshirazi), or the other way around? Is there pressure to remarry, or would Mahnaz's plans to do so with Hamid be considered controversial? If the couple goes through with it and starts having children right away (as Hamid wants to), what will become of the kids from Mahnaz's first marriage? It's not unusual for a culture to have certain expectations about such things, but it can be disorienting when a film fails to make them clear. Instead of doing anything to correct her delinquent son, Mahnaz coddles the boy and resents those who attempt to discipline him. That's grossly understating the issue, since something horrible happens to Aliyar, though this twist is so extreme and unexpected, the movie may as well have entered a soap opera-esque parallel dimension when it happens. Mahnaz is supposed to be celebrating her engagement ceremony, but she's not ready for her kids to know, so she entrusts them to the old man. Bad decision in a film that contains few good ones. Roustaee treats 'Woman and Child' as a tragedy, showing how everything Mahnaz does to make life better for her family seems to take them in the opposite direction. The relationship with Hamid hardly seems like a love story, but turns sour when Hamid meets Mahnaz's much younger sister Mehri (Soha Niasti) and rethinks his proposal. In theory, one could blame Iranian society for providing so few pathways for someone of her gender, age and class, but Mahnaz has no power to change the system, so she's left swinging at anyone within reach. In other words, if you can't challenge the Man, then you'll have to settle for going after the men who are oppressing you. After Aliyar's accident, Mahnaz lashes out, ramming her car into Samkhanian, who suspended him at school. She turns vindictive toward Hamid, who'd been charging homeless families to sleep in his ambulance, threatening to destroy his business. And in a scene of anti-patriarchal fury the likes of which Iranian cinema seldom allows, she all but murders her father-in-law after discovering how he'd used a belt to whip Aliyar without her permission. Mahnaz is woman, hear her roar. And yet, none of her actions makes the slightest sense, while the men still have the upper hand: They can lodge a complaint and have her deprived of custody. What sets Roustaee's previous films apart is the way he collapses the distance between Iranian culture and the Western world. His style — with its dynamic camera, efficient editing and plot-driven storytelling — feels much closer to American studio movies, compared to the relatively allegorical approach of other Iranian directors looking to critique the regime without signing their own death warrants. While that should make 'Woman and Child' more relatable, the psychology simply doesn't add up. Instead of kinship, audiences are likely to feel confusion, as Mahnaz behaves in increasingly self-destructive, irrational ways en route to an ending that provides relief, but no real resolution. Best of Variety The Best Albums of the Decade
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Iranian Director Saeed Roustaee's ‘Woman And Child' Gets 10-Minute Ovation In Cannes Debut
Iranian filmmaker Saeed Roustaee had the afternoon competition slot at the Cannes Film festival for his latest movie Woman and Child, which got an 10-minute ovation after it screened Thursday. Roustaee and star Parinaz Izadyar were among those in attendance for the premiere. More from Deadline 'Woman And Child' Review: Iran's Saeed Roustaee Delivers A Fiery Feminist Portrait Of A Woman Who Refuses To Be Pushed Aside – Cannes Film Festival Joachim Trier's 'Sentimental Value' Wows Cannes In Premiere, Gets Extraordinary 19-Minute Ovation 'I Only Rest In The Storm' Clip: Portuguese Un Certain Regard Title Delves Into Neo-Colonialism & International NGOs - Cannes The story follows Mahnaz (Parinaz Izadyar), a 40-year-old widowed nurse who is about to re-marry; she is also struggling with her rebellious son, Aliyar (Sinan Mohebi), who has been suspended from school. Family tensions reach a peak during a betrothal ceremony with her intended Hamid (Payman Maadi), and a tragic accident occurs. In the aftermath, Mahnaz will be forced to confront betrayal and loss, and to embark on a quest for justice. Roustaee has previously said that Mahnaz's character 'screamed in his mind' and told the festival, 'The film tells the story of a woman fighting all the men who made her live in a patriarchal society that deprived her of all her rights, including that of a mother.' Roustaee, who also wrote the screenplay for Woman and Child, was last in the Cannes Film Festival Competition with Leila's Brothers in 2022. That film resulted in a six-month prison sentence and a five-year filming ban for Roustaee as imposed by the Islamic regime. The star of that movie, Taraneh Alidoosti, was sentenced to five years in prison after publishing a photo of herself without her hijab. In both cases, the sentences were eventually lifted. According to the Cannes festival, for Woman and Child, Roustaee complied with certain restrictions, but maintains that he has not made a propaganda film, rather a film about social resistance. Woman and Child is released in France via Diaphana; sales are with Goodfellas. Best of Deadline Every 'The Voice' Winner Since Season 1, Including 9 Team Blake Champions Everything We Know About 'Jurassic World: Rebirth' So Far 'Nine Perfect Strangers' Season 2 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out?
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Woman And Child' Review: Iran's Saeed Roustaee Delivers A Fiery Feminist Portrait Of A Woman Who Refuses To Be Pushed Aside
They say that when one door closes, another door opens. This very much applies to Iranian cinema, and the one-in, one-out approach that the country's government seems to take when imprisoning its filmmakers. Like the recently released Jafar Panahi, Woman and Child director Saeed Roustaee fell afoul of the authorities in 2023 for having the temerity to submit his last film, Leila's Brothers, to Cannes without making the necessary changes to please the Ministry of Culture. He was sentenced to nine days in jail, but his new film suggests that the experience has by no means dampened the fire in his filmmaking. Woman and Child arrives in Cannes at the end of a very satisfying festival, and it could well be an awards contender, being a very satisfying female-fronted drama about a middle-aged widow struggling to raise two children in modern-day Tehran. That woman is Mahnaz (Parinaz Izadyar), who works double shifts as a nurse, and when we first meet her, she is dating ambulance driver Hamid (Payman Maadi). Mahnaz lives with her mother and her younger sister Mehri (Soha Niasti), who helps raise her two children, the angelic little Neda (Arshida Dorostkar) and her rebellious but charismatic 13-year-old big brother Aliyar (Sinan Mohebi), who makes his teachers' lives a misery. More from Deadline Iranian Director Saeed Roustaee's 'Woman And Child' Gets 10-Minute Ovation In Cannes Debut Cannes Film Festival 2025: Read All Of Deadline's Movie Reviews Richard Linklater's 'Breathless' Homage 'Nouvelle Vague' Being Pursued By Multiple Buyers For Domestic Hamid is pressuring Mahnaz to get married, which seems fairly reasonable since they've been dating for two years. Mahnaz, though, has hidden this fact from Neda and Aliyar, who are completely unaware that the family dynamic is about to change forever. Finally, the couple set a date for the engagement ceremony, at Mahnaz's apartment, on condition that she hide all evidence of her children from his parents and sister, who are travelling 10 hours to the big city from their village in the sticks. Mahnaz is reluctant ('They'll find out I've got two kids eventually,' she says), but Hamid gets his way, and Mahnaz packs off her offspring off to stay with her late husband's father (Hassan Pourshirazi). The course of love, however, does not run smooth, and the 48-year-old Hamid behaves strangely at the family get-together, staring at the 25-year-old Mehri when he should only have eyes for the 40-year-old Mahnaz. Afterwards, Hamid starts to ghost Mahnaz, and, when reached by phone, his mother blurts out the awful truth, which is that Hamid is having second thoughts about Mahnaz and would rather be marrying Mehri. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when Mehri tries to play matchmaker and ends up falling in love with him, much to Mahnaz's horror. While all this is playing out, tragedy strikes when Aliyar is fatally injured after falling from his grandfather's window. His death is the film's catalyzing incident, and Mahnaz's pent-up rage is the focus of the film's second hour as she desperately searches for some kind of justice, demanding Aliyar's school fire the teacher who suspended him (with very good reason) and trying to file an ill-founded murder charge against the grandfather. Her need for closure, meanwhile, isn't exactly helped by the fact that Mehri is now pregnant, with a boy, and plans to name him Aliyar by way of tribute. This great big mess is what Woman and Child is all about, and although it is primarily a character study, Roustaee's film is also a caustic comment on the patriarchal nature of Iran and the strange nature of its judicial system, which favors men over women every time. The standout is Izadyar, whose big, dark eyes are the film's most valuable asset, and her mercurial shifts are a thing of wonder. But everyone in this film is great, notably Maadi, who pivots from Prince Charming to Machiavelli with breathtaking ease, and Mohebi is an exciting discovery as the raucous Aliyar: some of the best scenes in the film are his 400 Blows-style monkey shines at the local state school. The film, though, belongs to Roustaee, who has a kinetic style we're not used to seeing from Iranian cinema; a riot of crash zooms and tracking shots that give the film a heightened and deceptively stylish verité look. He can also land the grace notes too, and the film's quietly devastating ending, in which its title is represented three times over while Hamdi looks on, powerless, is one of this year's Cannes' coups de cinema. Title: Woman and ChildFestival: Cannes (Competition)Director-screenwriter: Saeed RoustaeeCast: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi, Soha Niasti, Sinan MohebiSales agent: GoodfellasRunning time: 2 hr 11 mins Best of Deadline Broadway's 2024-2025 Season: All Of Deadline's Reviews Sundance Film Festival U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize Winners Through The Years Deadline Studio At Sundance Film Festival Photo Gallery: Dylan O'Brien, Ayo Edebiri, Jennifer Lopez, Lily Gladstone, Benedict Cumberbatch & More
