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Presented in a preview at CinéAlma 2016 in Carros, the film “The Salesman” by Iranian director Asghar Farhadi was released in theaters yesterday.
In this film, Asghar Farhadi portrays Emad and Rana in contemporary Tehran. The young couple is forced to urgently leave their apartment because the building is about to collapse. Thanks to an acquaintance, they quickly find another place to live. But an event linked to the former tenant will disrupt their lives.
With The Salesman, the Iranian director questions the responsibility and guilt of everyone in a locked-up society.
In his country, the director’s films never go unnoticed, as the anger of the most conservative individuals towards him is intense.
The story of the film—the assault on the heroine and her husband’s struggle to find the culprit—has not been spared either.
According to his critics, Farhadi has orchestrated all the details so that the assailant seems forgivable and the behaviors of the protagonist played by Shahab Hosseini, trying to defend and restore his honor, are displeasing.
Despite these attacks, The Salesman has been a great success in Iran. On the very first day of its screening, the film broke the record for the number of tickets sold in the history of Iranian cinema.
After receiving the Best Actor award at Cannes this year, “The Salesman” was chosen to represent the Islamic Republic of Iran at the 2017 Oscars.
