Fine performances by Sarah Kazemy, left, and Nikohl Boosheri power the brave drama of Circumstance.
(out of 4)Starring Sarah Kazemy, Nikohl Boosheri and Reza Sixo Safai. Written and directed by Maryam Keshavarz. 108 minutes. Opens Oct. 7 at the Carlton and Empress Walk theatres. 14A
As brave as it is affecting, Circumstance is a film born of the same thirst for freedom as the Arab Spring uprising.
The frank depiction of lesbian love in Iran — something that is officially not supposed to even exist in the country — makes it a risky proposition for Iranian-American writer/director Maryam Keshavarz, who partly bases her first feature on some of her own experiences.
She had to shoot her film in Lebanon to avoid censure by Iranian authorities, who also wouldn’t approve of scenes of drug taking, partying and the embrace of western movies and songs.
Circumstance is far from flawless, despite being an audience award winner at Sundance 2011. It could stand a good edit, and occasionally strays into melodrama that is as ripe as the pop videos its teen protagonists adore.
Powerful performances by newcomers Nikohl Boosheri and Sarah Kazemy override these mild qualms. As close friends Atafeh and Shireen, the two young women become emblematic not only of the classic teen search for self-expression, but also of a larger quest for liberty in their part of the world.
Atafeh is a lively 16-year-old in Tehran whose well-off family is struggling to pull itself back together. Older brother Mehran (Reza Sixo Safai), just out of rehab for drug addiction and still obviously deeply troubled, has become a born-again Muslim and a snitch for the morality cops.
Sister and brother both become transfixed by the beautiful Shireen, with whom Atafeh begins a full-on romance after the two bond during a beach vacation. They begin to live out their wildest erotic fantasies, both for real and in their minds.
Mehran resents how close his sister has become to Shireen, for whom he has feelings, and he also disapproves of their lifestyle, which he is monitoring through surveillance cameras he has set up throughout the house.
Atafeh’s and Mehran’s parents, U.S.-educated father Firouz (Soheil Parsa) and surgeon mom Azar (Nasrin Pakkho), were once free thinkers under more liberal Iranian regime, but they’ve been cowed by the totalitarian state they now live in, which presents the very real danger of arrest — or worse. Something sinister happened to the parents of Shireen, who is now an orphan living with an uncle and aunt.
The triangle of Atafeh, Shireen and Mehran is sure to fracture; the outcome is uncertain but fearful for those who put love ahead of pragmatism.
We never doubt the sincerity of the emotions on display, or of the foretaste Circumstance provides of a society on the brink of radical change.
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