THE SALESMAN (Forushande) C+
Iran France (125)
2016 d: Asghar Farhadi Official
site [UK]
I don’t say he’s a
great man. Willy Loman never made a lot
of money. His name was never in the
paper. He’s not the finest character
that ever lived. But he’s a human being,
and a terrible thing is happening to him.
So attention must be paid. He’s
not to be allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog. Attention, attention must be finally paid to
such a person.
—Linda Loman from Death
of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, 1949
The failed American Dream — Iranian style, with
writer/director Farhadi appropriating the Arthur Miller play Death of a Salesman into Iranian
society, becoming a chronicle of the Iranian middle class, with negligible
results. While there are those that
continually overpraise Farhadi’s expertise at either writing, directing, or both,
but don’t expect that here, as this is easily the least interesting and most
blatantly obvious of his films, where the mere act of combining American and
Iranian cultural attributes into a single work seems to win him plenty of
acclaim, given kudos for trying, but films are not peace negotiations to be
viewed at the United Nations, they are instead expressions of the human soul,
where this effort is lackluster and often infuriating, reminiscent of Canadian
filmmaker Denis Villeneuve’s failed attempt to make a Hollywood film in Prisoners
(2013), as both descend into a dark place of male dominance and
overreaction. Winner of two awards at
Cannes, the Best Screenplay for Farhadi and Best Actor prize for Shahab
Hosseini, the film continues his legacy for making socially relevant films,
FIREWORKS WEDNESDAY (2006), A
Separation (Jodaeiye Nader az Simin) (2011), The
Past (Le Passé) 2013), and 2015
Top Ten List #10 About Elly (Darbareye Elly), a film that was actually
completed in 2009 but not released until six years later, all made within a
context of other Iranian directors facing police arrest, the likes of which
include Jafar Panahi, who remains under a 6-year house arrest, as well as a
20-year ban on making or directing any movies, writing screenplays, giving any
form of interview with Iranian or foreign media, as well as leaving the country
except for Hajj holy pilgrimages to Mecca, Mohammad Rasoulof, currently out on
bail awaiting a one-year sentence, Mohsen Makhmalbaf and recently deceased
Abbas Kiarostami on self-imposed exiles from Iran due to the repressive nature
of the government, while artist-activist Atena Farghadani was sentenced to a
12-year prison sentence for posting a cartoon on her Facebook page, with
legislators depicted with animal heads, in protest of legislation to restrict
birth-control and make divorce more difficult in her country, and the nation’s
most renowned artist, sculptor Parviz Tanavoli, had his passport revoked
recently the day before he was scheduled to speak to a British Museum — all of which
suggests Farhadi walks a fine line.
While many felt The
Past (Le Passé) was a misstep, or among his weakest efforts, yet that is a
film challenged by the brilliance of Bérénice Bejo, who is arguably his most
fiercely independent character in any of his films, exhibiting a combative
nature that is nearly non-existent in Iranian films, as women remain firmly
under the patriarchal boot of male oppression.
Unfortunately, Farhadi writes a one-sided, male-friendly script that
undermines her character throughout, limiting the options available to her. To a large extent, that same problem reoccurs
here in another male-dominated film featuring more submissive female
characters. This is beginning to be a
glaring omission in Farhadi’s works, where there is little evidence to suggest
this is even a concern to him. By
appropriating a Pulitzer Prize-winning American play that is considered a
milestone in American theater, largely due to the profound depths of the
tragedy, Farhadi is suggesting a failed patriarchal system is a common
attribute of both American and Iranian societies, yet our histories and the way
each nation treats women today is substantially different, as the 1949 play was
written to represent a postwar society that was coming to terms with the
promise of new ideals, where financial success was viewed as the measure of a
successful life, at the expense of all other interests, like love, family,
knowledge, community, and personal fulfillment, something many overlooked in
the 1950’s, which was considered an era of prosperity in America, yet not
necessarily one of happiness, as evidenced by Richard Yates’ excruciatingly
personal 1961 novel Revolutionary Road
(made into a 2008 film by Sam Mendes) depicting a shattered portrait of the
idealized 50’s male-centric marriage, one that disintegrated into marital dysfunction
as it denied aspirations for women. The
60’s ushered in new hopes and dreams, such as equal opportunities for women,
calls for an end to racial discrimination, poverty, and the war in Vietnam,
while advocating greater social justice in an attempt to create a more equal
society. All this is part of the legacy
of the play, as it represents a last gasp of the American Dream that
continually needs to be resuscitated and fought for with each successive generation. The central question to be asked is whether
Farhadi is the man to carry this humanist torch in Iran, which is an Islamic
society, or other places around the world under their reach. The sad truth happens to be no, at least so
far, based on the evidence provided, as the women in Farhadi’s films continue
to be portrayed as if we’re still living in the 1950’s.
Like Roman Polanski’s most recent film Venus
in Fur (La Vénus à la fourrure) (2013), this one also begins and ends on an
empty stage, coming to life with a theatrical performance of Miller’s play,
quickly blending real life into the lives of the fictional characters seen
onstage, a device that frames the story, where we enter the stormy marriage of
the two leads in the play, Willy Loman and his wife Linda, played by Emad
(Shahab Hosseini) and Rana, Taraneh Alidoosti, who played Elly in 2015
Top Ten List #10 About Elly (Darbareye Elly). Opening in a state of flux, with dizzying
handheld camera shots, we are introduced to the couple as people in their
building are being warned the building is about to fall, where all residents
must immediately evacuate, as it is believed to be an earthquake, though the
damage is actually caused by a building construction bulldozer that is
destabilizing the foundation.
Nonetheless, it sets an ominous tone that the comfort of one’s home may
be disrupted at any time by external events.
Emad is a high school literature teacher who promises to bring his class
to a performance of the play, which they’ve never heard of, but we see the cast
and crew rehearse in the evenings, where already government censors are demanding
cuts in the play. When one of the cast
members discovers the lead couple are homeless and in need of an apartment,
Babak (Babak Karimi) offers them an empty apartment in a building he owns in
Tehran, allowing them to move in immediately.
Strangely, the previous tenant has left behind personal belongings in a
locked room, which initially irritates Rana, as they need the space, while Emad
takes a calmer approach, allowing events to naturally unfold. A catastrophic event triggers the story, as
Rana opens the door from the buzz of an intercom, believing it is her husband,
while returning to the bathroom to shower, but is instead viciously attacked,
happening entirely offscreen, where we see traces of bloody footprints,
shattered glass in the bathroom, while Rana has been taken to the hospital,
apparently helped by neighbors. The
details of this event remain obscure, as Rana is herself confused by what
happened and doesn’t want to talk about it, obviously emotionally shattered and
traumatized by the experience, where she’s afraid to use the shower or be left
alone in the building. Emad, on the
other hand, is more outraged by his own increasing suspicions, not to mention
the dishonor and family embarrassment, where he’s more concerned about exacting
revenge than the fragile state of his wife, who attempts to return to the
stage, but freezes in a scene where the character of Willy Loman is
particularly brutal to her, one of the more affecting scenes in the film.
Strangely, Rana disappears from view, much as she did in 2015
Top Ten List #10 About Elly (Darbareye Elly), as she is removed from the
cast, unfortunately spending most of her time all alone, where Emad seems to
lose patience with having to deal with her continual fears and anxieties,
perhaps viewing her as “damaged goods.”
The entire thrust of the film shifts into Emad’s shadowy state of mind,
as we observe the unraveling of a man, far from the sympathetic, fairly
level-headed guy seen in the beginning, as he ventures into vigilante
territory, losing sight of his own teachings and beliefs, where he drifts into
a darkened interior state. Becoming
obsessed with following clues of her attacker, never reporting any of this to
the authorities, as Rana doesn’t wish to relive this experience over and over
again, Emad goes on a personal one-man crusade, as he scours the neighborhoods
in search of the culprit, knowing little about their personal identity, but
they did leave traces behind. Mirroring
this is an event that takes place in his classroom, where he falls asleep while
screening a movie about a man who strangely turns into a cow, Dariush Mehrjui’s
THE COW (1969), arguably the first film of the Iranian New Wave, where his
students show no interest whatsoever in the film, but are fascinated by their
sleeping teacher, taking pictures on their smartphones in a festive party
atmosphere. When he awakes, somewhat
embarrassed and humiliated, he angrily attempts to shift the blame to one of
the students, appropriating his phone, inspecting the contents, offering a
stern moral rebuke about his behavior that needs to be shared with his father,
only to learn his father died years earlier.
This wild goose chase of an impromptu classroom investigation turns
disastrous, showing a mean streak in Emad, one who has lost faith in his own
principles and is instead crudely striking out blindly at others in the
dark. In much the same manner, he tracks
down the home invader, becoming obsessed with exacting justice, even as his
wife objects, claiming this is more than she can handle, as she no longer
recognizes her husband anymore. While
previous works also felt implausible and overly contrived, but unlike others,
this film lacks an emotional connection to the blind irrationality of the
husband, who goes off the deep end in his intent to punish the
perpetrator. It’s a sad exhibition of an
overdetermined finale, where Emad himself grows more morally repugnant,
forgetting his connection to his wife, or anyone else, where his own personal
humiliation is the key to revenge, as the man who caused it must suffer even
more, driving the point into the ground, becoming a mad dog, where he literally
becomes the “damaged goods.” While the
final events are disturbing, they are all too predictable, like a robot on auto
pilot, exerting no reflection, where the sins of the self-righteous allow their
own pride to blind them to the consequences.
Unlike Willy Loman, who made a living genuinely convincing people to buy
things they didn’t really need, Emad assumes the role of a salesman, but by the
end has nothing left to sell.
