A touching drama of the strength of motherhood – The Hollywood Reporter

Central setting in the discreet exterior of a suburban home Shaida, a handful of women are working to get their lives back. Her title her character is one of them, determined not to leave an abusive marriage with her young daughter and not return to her native Iran. Unfolding in Australia in 1995, Noora Niasari’s debut film draws from her experiences as a child in such a shelter, and at its core is a tribute to the writer-director’s mother. What’s there is The Amir Ebrahimi’s quiet, ferocious performance and tender chemistry with Selina Zahedonia, who plays 6-year-old Mona.

The opening scene is dark and has a sense of danger. Four years ago, Shayda moved to Australia with Hossein (Masami Osamu) and her young daughter to attend her medical school. A student, she stopped wearing the hijab, embraced the relative freedom of Western women, and infuriated her husband with her newfound independence. Unwilling to take responsibility for his actions, he expects to return to Iran as a family after graduation.She has filed for divorce.

Ridiculously, like many such legal proceedings, Hossein, who had been restricted from contacting his daughter by phone, was suddenly allowed weekly visits leading up to the custody hearing. rice field. During their first court-ordered meeting, the three met at a mall and were terrified and tense. As Hossein and Mona return late from their half-day together, Shayda’s deepest fears surface, her breath sharp and shallow, though Mona takes time to warm up to her father, whom she hasn’t seen in a while. , but she still refrains. Her girlish serenity is striking as her parents exchange a few impassioned words, especially her melodramatic sobs over stolen toys and other mundane trifles at the shelter. compared to.

There, mediocre Joyce (Leah Purcell) oversees a few people with modest compassion. Residents include party-going Vi (Gillian Nguyen), cranky troubled Kathy (Bev Killick), and inconsiderate Lenny (Lucinda Arm), who has a baby and whom Shayda finds convenient to babysit. Strong Hall), Englishman Lara (Eve Morey). I haven’t seen my son in over two years. Whatever their differences and frictions, these women speak the same language as Shayda when it comes to the urgency of escape, the need for evacuation. , gossip, and her mother, who is very careful about the need to maintain appearances, urges her over the phone to make peace with Hossein—”He’s going to be a doctor soon.

Whether Shayda isn’t completely free of such concerns about social propriety, or just a flustered person, with her sympathetic friend Ellie (Lina Mousavi) from Iran. When she tells her attorney the extent of her ordeal — how Hossein abused her, calls for her help, she keeps things close to her best. How the Police Responded — Niassari’s writing is all the more powerful because it’s candid and unpretentious, and how Amir Ebrahimi’s nuanced performance is heartbreakingly alive Shayda. Elly’s new friendship with cousin Farhad (Mojean Aria) provides a much-needed spark of hope. Her first encounter with a young man in the pulsating light of a disco is a capsule study of the contrasts of darkness and lighting that shape film.

Throughout the film, Niassari and cinematographer Sherwin Akbarzadeh move the action between realms of secretiveness and difficulty and realms of lightness and play. At the heart of the latter are Shaida’s preparations for Nowruz, the Persian New Year’s celebration, each symbolic element of the ritual. Haftsin Place the gifts she shares with Mona on the table. In their portrayal of Zahedonia, the filmmakers capture not only a cautious and concerned daughter, but also an accomplished and delighted student.

Amir Ebrahimi wins Best Actress at Cannes for her role as a journalist in a crime thriller Holy spider, here in very different modes, but in both films she is quietly riveting, embodying a refusal to step back into a given role. , which may have been a one-note part, makes the divine Hossein gigantic and pathetic, devastated by the threat he feels to Shayda’s strength. That’s especially true when one of his Saturdays with Mona turns into a suspenseful detour, with Akbarzadeh’s quick camera and Erika Rezai’s nimble editing drawing viewers into escalating trouble.

If it takes a spine to endure these troubles driven by ignorance and anxiety, Niasari and Amir Ebrahimi make clear that it also takes joy. As Shayda dances, she implores Mona to join her, her mother’s movements in the six-year-old’s mirror revealing that her rebellion, love, and resilience are in perfect harmony. to know.