Review: The Salesman

You would not think Iran would not have any major influence in the movie industry. But director Asghar Farhadi has given some of the best films of the last decade.

Most of them seem to have a similar story, and that is marriage problems. Despite there being not much difference, they all still seem to be gripping viewing.

His latest one is no different, and like all the others, it is another great drama.

You are straight into it with quite a frenetic opening scene. That pretty much sets the momentum nicely and you get introduced to our characters and their situation really well. As the story develops, it's get quite tense and emotional. Then we get into a finale that was genuinely heart-breaking to watch.

The performances are all very good. I remember seeing Taraneh Alidoosti before in About Elly, and she is as great as ever in this. Shahab Hosseini was the real star in this. It is quite a transformation his character has throughout the film.
Babak Karimi played a solid support. There are quite a few others that I wanted to mention, as some gave devastatingly good performances. But I am struggling to find any pictures to fit the names from the cast list. So all I will say is, the cast on the whole were great on the whole and fantastic in parts.

I liked its suspense. It's emotional, moving and it portrays a struggling marriage really well. I think what makes it great is its under-statedness and that it's quietly tragic instead of being melodramatic. It looks like a tricky thing to pull off and Farhadi manages to do that really well and pretty consistently with his other films. While you may think this sounds like a depressing film. For me, it was more startling and it can shake you up if you can be patient with its slow-burning pace.

This ended up winning Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. I am happy to see one of Farhadi's films get a well deserved Oscar. But sadly, due to the recent travel ban introduced by America for several Middle East countries, the Iranian director could not attend. It is a real shame he could not accept it in person. But at least, winning the award and this story will get more people watching this film and his high quality back catalogue. Also, films from countries like Iran give you a great indicator on how some people live their lives in some others of the world that you may never get to see for yourself.

Rating: 8/10