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FILMS Iran

The Home: A superbly cinematic chamber piece

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- The winner of the Fajr IFF is an excellent family intrigue story supported by impressive cinematography, expert mise-en-scène and strong acting

The Home: A superbly cinematic chamber piece
Mohadeseh Heyrat in The Home

The first feature film by Iranian writer-director-producer Asghar YousefinejadThe Home, premiered at the Fajr International Film Festival in Tehran, where it won the main Award for Best Film in the international competition, the Golden Simorgh, plus the Best Script and NETPAC Awards (see the news). 

Entirely a chamber piece, inasmuch as the whole film takes place inside one house, it is nevertheless a sublimely cinematic experience. This is due to the meticulously executed mise-en-scène and super fluid camera by Hamid Mehrafrouz, which never stops moving, following the main protagonists and their interactions as the complicated plot unravels, and letting side characters move in and out of the frame, sometimes adding to the overall frustration with the tragic event that the story revolves around, and sometimes giving a much-needed comic breather from the focus that the film inevitably requires the viewer to maintain in order to follow it. 

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The house – that is, the titular home – belongs to a recently departed man whose burial this family from Tabriz (the capital of East Azerbaijan Province in Iran, where they speak Turkish – so the original title is also in Turkish, Ev) is preparing for. According to Islam, the body must be buried as soon as possible, which the deceased's daughter Sayeh (an intense Mohadeseh Heyrat) is determined to carry out quickly. With our experience of the fussing and crying that accompany such rituals in this part of the world (but also, closer to Western sensibilities, in Turkey or the Balkans), sometimes it is hard to tell how much of all this emotion overflowing from the whole family is sincere, and how much of it is just for show, to convince one's peers or the Almighty. Sayeh's connection to her father has been spotty at best during the last six years that she has been living with her husband, which we learn from her chubby, apparently crafty, and definitely resourceful cousin Majid (a marvellous Ramin Riazi), who has moved into Sayeh's room after she left to help out with the old man. But the real complications commence with the arrival of Mr Ahmedi (Gholamreza Bagheri) from the university hospital, who brings the last will and testament of the deceased man, citing his wish for his body to be given to medical students for research.

At 78 minutes of intelligent, psychological and often humorous interplay between the excellent actors, The Home plays out like the most exciting episode of your favourite TV series, except that it is fully cinematic, with its technical chamber approach and character arcs. After its national premiere at the Fajr IFF, the film deserves some international limelight, and the sales belong to Iranian Independents. It was produced by Asghar Yousefinejad, with additional investment from Safieh Aslani.

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