Cannes Film Festival, drama, Iran, Mahsa Rostami, Misagh Zareh, Mohammad Rasoulof, movies, New York Film Festival, Niousha Akhshi, reviews, Reza Akhlaghi, Setareh Maleki, Soheila Golestani, Telluride Film Festival, The Seed of the Sacred Fig
September 23, 2024
by Carla Hay
Directed by Mohammad Rasoulof
Persian with subtitles
Culture Representation: Taking place in Iran, the dramatic film “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” features an all Middle Eastern cast of characters representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: A newly promoted investigating judge has conflicts over political unrest in Iranian society and dissension in his own household with his wife and two teenage daughters.
Culture Audience: “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof and movies that show how societal changes can affect an individual family.
“The Seed of the Sacred Fig” is a little long-winded in showing how political unrest can have profound effects on a family. However, this well-acted drama has a very suspenseful last 30 minutes that make it worth the wait. With a total running time of 167 minutes, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” might test the patience of some viewers with some of the movie’s repetitive scenarios. Fortunately, the plot isn’t overstuffed, and there’s a small number of people in the movie’s cast, which gives the movie an intimate urgency that it deserves.
Written and directed by Mohammad Rasoulof, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” had its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it won a special jury prize. The movie made the rounds at other film festivals in 2024, including the Telluride Film Festival and the New York Film Festival. “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” takes place in Iran, mostly in the capital city of Tehran. It’s the city where a family of four live during a tumultous time of political unrest in Iran, where activists (many of them young people) protest on the street against government oppressions.
The family of four who are at the center of the story are:
- Iman (played by Missagh Zareh), the family religious patriarch, who has recently been promoted to being an investigating judge for the Iranian government.
- Najmeh (played by Soheila Golestani), Iman’s wife, the family matriarch who is very pro-government and in favor of strict traditional values until certain events give her a different perspective.
- Rezvan (played by Mahsa Rostami), the older daughter of Iman and Najmeh, who’s about 17 or 18 years old.
- Sana (played by Setareh Maleki), the younger daughter Iman and Najmeh, who’s about 15 or 16 years old.
Rezvan is more outspoken than Sana, who is quieter and more obedient. Iman’s promotion comes with some problems. A colleague named Ghaderi (played by Reza Akhlaghi) tells Iman that Iman’s promotion was somewhat controversial because a colleague wanted his own man to get the job. Iman is also getting pressured to give a death indictment to a political prisoner when Iman hasn’t even looked at this prisoner’s file yet.
As part of Iman’s job, he has been given a service gun, which he tells Najmeh to hide in their home. Around the same time, Rezvan pleads with Najmeh to give a teenage friend named Sadaf (played by Niousha Akhshi) a place to stay for a few nights because Sadaf’s college dorm room isn’t available yet. Rezvan reluctantly agrees.
What happens next is a series of events causing increasing turmoil within this family. The catalyst for the most tension-filled aspects of the story have to do with Iman’s reactions when he finds out that his gun has gone missing. “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” has solid acting performances and gripping cinematography that make this movie compelling enough for viewers who want to see how it will end.
Neon will release “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” in select U.S. cinemas on November 27, 2024.