Woman and Child: a fascinating autopsy of the Iranian Society and Family (critic)
After the law of Tehran and Leïla and his brothers, Saeed Roustae signed a new powerful drama on a mother in search of justice.
The heartbreaking final scene of Woman and Child will remain as one of the great emotional moments of the 78th Cannes Film Festival. We do not know if this new portrait of a woman signed by the prodigy Saeed Roustaee will be rewarded by the jury chaired by Juliette Binoche. Leïla and her brothers had left, quite unjustly, empty -handed from the Croisette in 2022. But as Mathieu Kassovitz says, “We don’t care about the golden palm“, No ?
In 2021, the world had discovered the talent of Roustaee with its second feature film, Tehran’s law. A punch film on drug trafficking in Iran, presented in Venice and rewarded in Reims Polar, which chained the shock images and finished with its third unpredictable act. A masterclass of staging and writing announcing the birth of an essential author.
Woman and Child continues the turn started by Leïla and her brothers. Roustaee is responsible for dissecting the patriarchy that eats away at his country. And through the tragic fate of a 40 -year -old nurse, mother and widow, the filmmaker intends to give him a blow of grace. By opting for the slow agony, rather than sudden death. Like the poison distilled in Iranian society by decades of Islamic regime. A regime which is not appointed, in this film which was shot with the approval of the authorities, but which it is easily understood that it is at the heart of the problem.
The first part of the film focuses on Mahnaz’s son, a clever and turbulent boy who disturbs his class and organizes illegal silver games. Then, the story changes thanks to a drama, and its world of collapse. Hamid, the pretender with whom she had to remarry, fell in love with her little sister. Her stepfather plotted against her, and her mother attacks her with unbearable social injunctions.
In search of reparation, she finds herself crushed by traditions and archaic justice. In Iran described by Roustaee, one can make one lose his job to one, the guard of his child to another, by collecting some testimonies. The weight of the neighbor’s gaze, the colleague, weighs on citizens, and of course women in the first place, with all hope of emancipation. They are the ones at the heart of the film, their suffering that is captured by Roustaee’s camera.
The more the story advances, the more Mahnaz undergoes injustice and family betrayals, experiencing its pugnacity and dignity. The scenario multiplies the twists and turns, sometimes worthy of Santa Barbara. Their list may seem laughable if you were listed here. But the mastery of Roustaee and the talent of her casting avoid any ridiculous. We are in a tragedy, not a telenovela.
Parinaz Izadyar embodies with remarkable intensity the main role (we play a serious candidate for the femine interpretation price). Payman Maadia favorite actor of Roustaee, is as always of great accuracy. Soha Niaastiwhich embodies the sister of the heroine, is the revelation of the film. An ideal trio to underline the talents of dialogist of Roustaee, which uses wonderfully from the particular musicality of the Farsi.
Woman and Child reminds us of the Farhadi of the great era (A separation), and offers a perfect complement, even if a tone below, A simple accidentthe other Iranian drama in competition signed Jafar Panahi. Inexhaustable provider of tragic destinies, Persian cinema has not finished exercising its power of fascination on our Western eyes.
