The Seed of the Sacred Fig (American premiere in the presence of Mohammed Rasoulof)

 

Mohammad Rasoulof: The Seed of the Sacred Fig (DE/FR/IR 2024).

Made possible by a donation from Keller Doss.

Viewed at Sheridan Opera House, Telluride Film Festival (TFF), 31 Aug 2024.

In person: Mohammad Rasoulof.

Larry Gross (TFF 2024): "Iman (Missagh Zareh) has just been promoted to Investigator, a stepping stone to the prestigious and lucrative position of Judge in Iran. But there’s a catch: He’s now expected to blindly follow the dictates of the authoritarian Iranian government. When his wife (Soheila Golestani) and two daughters (Mahsa Rostami and Setareh Maleki) show some sympathy for protesters demanding human rights on the streets of Tehran, he begins to harden in defense of an unjust system. Writer-director Mohammad Rasoulof, himself a former prisoner of conscience, was forced to flee his homeland after authorities learned about the subject matter of his film. With his four brilliant actors, he shows, with meticulous clarity, compassion and poignance, how totalitarian rule can erode even the bonds between parent and child, husband and wife. Agonizingly painful, yet thrilling in its moral clarity, THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG (a winner at Cannes) provides one of cinema’s most emphatic statements of the necessity of freedom." –Larry Gross (Germany-France-Iran, 2024, 168 min)

AA: Mohammad Rasoulof's masterpiece The Seed of the Sacred Fig centers around the revolutionary protest movement that rose in reaction to the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022 in Iran. She became a victim of police brutality because she had allegedly not been wearing the hijab correctly. The historical movement is covered in unforgettable epic mobile phone video montages that show the magnitude of the revolt and the violence of the security forces.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig is a film about contemporary history in the form of a political thriller and a family tragedy. The father, Iman, is a rising figure in the Iranian security forces, eagerly awaiting promotion. In the beginning the film seems to evolve in the direction of The Zone of Interest when the family starts making plans based on a better apartment with private bedrooms for both daughters. 

But things start to slip when Iman's gun goes missing, and like in Nora inu / Stray Dog and Madigan, that is a serious matter that can cost him his career. The daughters hide their solidarity with the Mahsa Amini movement. But also Iman keeps his true career a secret from his family. The strict conditions of his new position turn intolerable for the daughters, and the conflict escalates to a boiling point.

The mother Najmeh, absolutely loyal to her husband, now registers with pain that Iman submits them all to the official investigation procedure of the security forces, and begins to distance from him. When the gun is still not found, Iman invites his family to his childhood home area, ostensibly to spend some quality time, but there, in the middle of the desert, he imprisons them.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig turns into a prison escape and chase story. The dénouement has terrific momentum and lifts the fabula to a new level. The Seed of the Sacred Fig grows into a tale of patriarchy and theocracy with leverage comparable with Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House.

Let's register the complexity of the tale. Iman himself is a victim as well as an executioner. He experiences tremendous ordeals of conscience when he is required to sign death sentences without access to the evidence. The judge is finally put to trial and convicted by his own family. The Chekhovian gun acquires a new meaning.

Perfection in all departments: magnificent screenplay, complex and passionate performances of the actors, striking cinematography.