I can’t believe the magic of this crazy avant-garde Iranian New Wave film, like literally. A banned film that was found many years later by the director’s son? Like… things like this feel surreal to even think about. I believe it was fate written in the stars.

There are sooo many things in this film that I truly adore. The big rustic mansion, the tapestry, everything is maximalist. I love maximalism so much, I can only imagine how happy I’d be if I had a house filled with all those trinkets and decorations. Those Persian rugs, candleholders, cups, plates, wooden furniture, kettles, jewelry boxes… all of it is amazing.

Thank God for the hard work everyone put into the restoration. The color grading reminds me so much of Varda’s One Sings, the Other Doesn’t, Demy’s Donkey Skin, and Bergman’s Cries & Whispers. But this film feels intentionally more claustrophobic, with warm candlelight tones and minimal lighting even though the setting is a spacious mansion.

While I was watching, I kept thinking about why some scenes reminded me of Cries & Whispers. Then I read an interview with Azlani’s son that confirmed I wasn’t overthinking it lol. Apparently, he and his dad watched Cries & Whispers when he was only 12, completely confused since it was in a foreign language 😂

Quoting from the interview:

With undertones of homosexuality, sexual promiscuity, and greed, Aslani’s narrative shows us the inner rot eating away at Iran’s rich, an obvious critique of the Pahlavi regime’s royalist government, but also of the bland ways filmmakers constructed their stories in contemporary Iran.

Source: Mubi Notebook

The political layer beyond just “it critiques the rich.” So, the house itself functions like a decaying system. Everyone is trapped in it, feeding off inheritance, surveillance, and control. It’s not just rich people behaving badly, it’s a structure that produces rot. Plot-wise, i wanna talk about the role of women and power dynamics. Lady Aghdas isn’t just a victim or a gothic figure, she’s part of a suffocating hierarchy of women, maids, relatives, dependence, repression. The film is quietly brutal about how women navigate power when they’re denied direct control.

Also, the queer subtext, desire in this film feels hidden, coded, almost dangerous, which adds to the tension and the sense of secrecy in the house. I still can’t believe that a film with an Agatha Christie-like plot, full of betrayal, inheritance disputes, and greed, got banned???

I’m so amazed by the camerawork, it was insane. Did you notice the scene where Lady Aghdas crawls alone from her room to the basement, where she finds Hadji Amoo with her maid? That long take is so cool. It moves down the stairs so smoothly, which wouldn’t have been easy to achieve without both the actor’s powerful performance and the cinematographer’s talent & skill.

Another strong angle is the use of space and blocking. Characters are constantly framed through doorways, corridors, behind objects. It creates this feeling that everyone is being watched or trapped inside layers.

And the sound design??? Did you hear how the music carries the tension throughout the film? The ghastly howls of foxes and dogs, the non-diegetic sound… everything. It was designed and composed by Sheida Gharachedaghi, the first female Iranian avant-garde composer. She used folk music from southern Iran because Aslani wanted something atonal, something that would make it feel almost like a horror film.

And the ending… it didn’t feel like a dramatic reveal to me, it felt inevitable. Everything was already decaying from the very beginning, and the film just slowly lets you realize it. There’s no real catharsis or justice, just this suffocating feeling that the house and everything inside it will keep rotting forever. It doesn’t end. The Agatha Christie-like “whodunnit” plot becomes less important than the sense that everything was doomed from the start because it’s more into tragedy than mystery. That said, don’t expect something like plot-twist or something here, bcs there won’t be. Just enjoy the decay, the greed, the “who’s more in control”, and the overall aesthetic, they’re all just so brilliant. Persian culture and its aesthetics always deliver, I trust them completely!!!

God, I feel like crying when I think about the story and journey behind this film, and how it can now be watched globally. Before it got banned, there was even sabotage from critics. They gave negative reviews before fully watching it. When it premiered, only three people showed up. Then three years later, it was banned and considered lost.

My overwhelming, nonsensical brain keeps thinking that maybe this film didn’t belong to that era because it belongs to ours. All those unfortunate events, the lack of appreciation, the politics, maybe they were part of a path so that we can now celebrate and truly cherish its magic.

Think about how futuristic this film is. It’s like the universe itself saved a copy somewhere safe, only for it to end up in a thrift shop and return to the director’s own family. If that is not a rare, surreal coincidence, I don’t know what is.

The film was literally buried, then physically recovered, then culturally re-evaluated. It’s not just ‘REDISCOVERED’ guys, it was almost erased. WE ARE WITNESSING A TIME CAPSULE, I’m so grateful for everything 😭