01/03/2023 - BERLINALE 2023: Steffi Niederzoll's prizewinning documentary sensitively and thoughtfully tells the story of a young Iranian woman executed for killing her rapist

The current wave of anti-government protests in Iran follows many earlier sacrifices that gradually paved the way for small steps forward, and one such cycle happened in 2014, when Reyhaneh Jabbari was executed. This is the topic of German director Steffi Niederzoll's first feature-length documentary, Seven Winters in Tehran [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which world-premiered at the Berlinale and won the Compass-Perspektive-Award for the best film in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino section as well as the Peace Film Prize (see the news).

When Reyhaneh was 19, she killed a man who tried to rape her. In the two-month lead-up to the trial, her family – mother Shole, father Fereydoon and two younger sisters, Sharare and Shahrzad – learn that the man, Morteza Sarbandi, was connected to the secret service. When a reasonable judge who questioned his motives is replaced by an Islamic scholar and former Revolutionary Guard, Reyhaneh is sentenced to death by hanging under Sharia Law of blood revenge. It is now up to Sarbandi's family – that is, his eldest son, Jalal – to decide if he will forgive Reyhaneh. We can hardly expect suspense in this respect, as the result is known, but instead, Niederzoll gives us something much more valuable: a deep, dignified and nuanced human story of a conflicted, violent society.

The film was made with materials smuggled out of Iran, many of them recorded secretly by the family or by anonymous collaborators, and interviews with the family. In 2017, Shole and Sharare, after the threats they received because of their campaigning against the death penalty, escaped to Germany, and Shahrzad followed two years later, so they are interviewed on camera. Fereydoon still can't get a passport, and his testimony is filmed via online video. There is also a smattering of mobile-phone recordings, of poor technical quality but huge emotional power – especially a segment near the end of the film which sees Shole waiting in front of the prison before the execution.

Another layer is provided by re-enactments, but without actors. Instead, tasteful panning shots inside small models of prison dormitories or the courtroom accompany the voice-overs; a tracking camera slowly travels through the apartment that stands in for the one where the incident took place. The sound design and music are similarly sensitive, and the usual bombastic vibe of investigative documentaries is replaced with thoughtful, patient editing decisions.

The most touching and insightful part of the film comes from Reyhaneh herself. Some of her calls with her family have been recorded, and Holy Spider [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ali Abbasi
interview: Ali Abbasi
interview: Zar Amir Ebrahimi
film profile] actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi (also at the Berlinale in My Worst Enemy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mehran Tamadon
film profile]) reads out her letters in voice-over. While the legal system's disregard for humanity, the mind games interrogators play and the brutal torture methods they employ will be familiar to some viewers, the solidarity among women prisoners, largely guided by Reyhaneh's invincible spirit, is especially moving.

The most unexpected aspect, though, is Shole's communication with Jalal as she tries to convince him to forgive her daughter. Besides bringing themes and relationships that we know from Greek tragedies or Shakespeare firmly into reality, their text messages and Shole's testimony reveal a picture of a deeply conflicted society in which nothing is black and white. Even if our instinct leads us to simply denounce a culture that is violent towards women and all of its members but the most powerful ones, Shole finds compassion for Jalal, and we realise his position and actions are also a result of the same violence. Even though its anti-regime voice is loud and clear, the film also sends a message of empathy and forgiveness, just as Reyhaneh asked her family to forgive her murderers. She had already forgiven them.

Seven Winters in Tehran is a co-production between Cologne-based Made in Germany Filmproduktion, and France's Gloria Films and TS Productions. Cercamon has the international rights.