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The Circle
2000
Banned in Iran, Jafar Panahi's THE CIRCLE is set almost entirely on the busy streets of Tehran - a place where women are restricted by numerous laws, including a repressive dress code, and can only travel accompanied by a man. The beginning of the film focuses on two women, Arezou (Mariam Palvin Almani) and Nargess (Nargess .. Read more
| Starring | Maryiam Parvin Almani, Nargess Mamizadeh, Monir Arab, Mojgan Faramarzi |
|---|---|
| Director | Jafar Panahi |
| Genres | Drama |
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The Circle
Banned in Iran, Jafar Panahi's THE CIRCLE is set almost entirely on the busy streets of Tehran - a place where women are restricted by numerous laws, including a repressive dress code, and can only travel accompanied by a man. The beginning of the film focuses on two women, Arezou (Mariam Palvin Almani) and Nargess (Nargess Mamizadeh), who have been given temporary leave from prison and have no intension of returning. They attempt to flee to Nargess's hometown, which she claims is as beautiful as a Van Gogh painting, but are deterred by police. Meanwhile, their friend Pari (Fereshteh Sadr Orfani), who has just escaped from jail, is pregnant and needs an abortion. Panahi's lens continues to shift from one woman to another as this eye-opening tale circles back on itself. More serious in tone than the director's brilliant, lighthearted debut, THE WHITE BALLOON, THE CIRCLE shares many of its technical and narrative flourishes, making it another example of Iranian cinema at its best and most politically aware.
| Starring | Maryiam Parvin Almani, Nargess Mamizadeh, Monir Arab, Mojgan Faramarzi, Fatemeh Naghavi, Fereshteh Sadr Orafai, Elham Saboktakin |
|---|---|
| Director | Jafar Panahi |
| Studio | ARTIFICIAL EYE |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 27 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama |
| Language | DVD: Farsi |
| Subtitles | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 25 Mar 2002 Production year: 2000 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (6)
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Iranian director Jafar Panahi's neorealist variation on La Ronde is a far cry from the optimistic charm of The White Balloon. While Max Ophül's 1950 masterpiece was a merry-go-round of romance, Panahi's award-winning movie highlights such contentious issues as divorce, abortion and prostitution to demonstrate the universal discrimination against women in modern Iranian society. An almost Hitchcockian tension develops as eight women suffer male oppression in everyday scenarios ranging from childbirth to buying a bus ticket, all in the space of 24 hours. Bahram Badakhshani's raw, hand-held camerawork captures the backstreet ambience of durability and despair. But it's the courageous naturalism of the non-professional cast that provides the drama with its poignancy and power.
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"...One of the deepest impressions THE CIRCLE leaves is of the terrifying but also in its way thrilling complexity of experience..."
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Most helpful member's review
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10 out of 13 people found this review helpful
Round and round it goes...
The Circle follows in a weary, er, circle the lives of a random selection of Iranian women who are down on their luck.
The point-of-view shifts like Richard Linklater's indie classic 'Slackers', dropping off and picking up characters as the camera slopes around the mean Iranian streets, but always it focuses on women at the end of their tether, caught in the awful loop of Iranian 'justice' that, once they are at all criminalised (for whatever reason, and usually it's quite a petty one) leaves them no viable escape route, but only forces them further into a life of crime.
Petty crime, prostitution, deceit, there are no criminal masterminds here, only women who for the most part sincerely want to make a decent life for themselves and are now unable to.
The meaning of the film's title only becomes clear at the end (but I won't spoil it for you).
It should be pointed out that The Circle is definitely NOT the Iranian equivalent of the 'chick-flick'. Mostly very little happens, there's no standard plot or resolution and the first half-hour or so is pretty confusing. Stick with it, however, because this is worth watching - well-acted, full of tension and a dreadful insight into a true Catch-22 world. -
Most recent members' review
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3 out of 3 people found this review helpful
The circle
Extremely esoteric film about women in Iran who have escaped from jail. The story, such as it is, tells you almost nothing about the women or why they have been in jail and leaves you without any answers. It seems to be enough to present long held images of women waiting for one thing and another in areas of deprivation. The stories are not really linkled and characters disappear without explanation. Strange but ultimately very unsatisfying film despite the expressive faces of the women.
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Banned in Iran, Jafar Panahi's THE CIRCLE is set almost entirely on the busy streets of Tehran - a place where women are restricted by numerous laws, including a repressive dress code, and can only ... -