|
Dariush Mehrjui
| Born in Tehran
in 1940. Graduated in philosophy from U.C.L.A. After his return home he began his film
career by directing the Diamond 33 in 1967. Then directed The Cow, one of the
most remarkable films in the history of the Iranian Cinema. After the Revolution, he began
a new phase in his career with Hamoon which was widely acclaimed by critics and
was also successful with the public. |
|
Feature Films -
1969: The Cow (also co-screenwriter Winner of FIPRESCI Prize at Venice Festival,
Italy 1971) 1972: The Postman (also screenwriter Winner of the Special Prize of
the Protestant Church, Golden Plaque of the Jury at Berlin Festival, Germany 1972, etc.),
1978: The Cycle (also co-screenwriter) 1986: The Tenants (also
screenwriter), 1987: Shirak (also co-screenwriter), 1989: Hamoon (also
screenwriter Winner of the Crystal Simorgh awards of Special Jury Prize, Best Direction,
Best Photography, Best Editing, Best Actor, Khosro Shakibai, Best Script at 7th Fajr
Festival), 1991/1999: Banu (also screenwriter), 1991: Sara (also
screenwriter Winner of Crystal Simorgh prizes of Best Script, Best Supporting Actress,
Yasmin Malek-Nasr, at 11th Fajr Festival Golden Shell Prize of Best Film, Silver Shell
Prize of Best Actress, Niki Karimi at San Sebastian Festival, Spain 1993) 1994: Pari (also
screenwriter Winner of Crystal Simorgh prizes of Best Direction, Best Supporting Actor,
Ali Mosaffa, Best Photography at 13th Fajr Festival), 1996: Leila (also
screenwriter Winner of Diploma of Honor of Best Actress, Leila Hatami, Crystal Simorgh
Prize of Best Supporting Actress, Jamile Sheikhi at 15th Fajr Festival). 1998: The
Pear Tree (also screenwriter and
co-producer) Winner of Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Actress, Golshifte Farahani and
Honor Diploma for Photography at 16th Fajr Festival , winner of Silver Hugo at 34th
Chicago Festival, 1998. 2000: The Mix.
Mehrjui's
File
Film
International; Iranian Film (Quarterly)
Autumn 1998, Vol. 6, No. 2
By: Shadmehr Rastin
Dariush
Mehrjui, the Iranian film maker, producer, and scriptwriter,
who is also acquainted with music, is a graduate of philosophy
from UCLA (U.S.). He is also a translator of philosophical books
and was the editor-in-chief of the Pars Review magazine (for a
short period). He is still very active at sixty (he was born in
1939) and is faithful to his old tradition-making a film in a
year. He has always experienced censorship during his career, but
he has never parted from the film making scene. He even made a
film in France during the period when there was no serious film
production in Iran. He himself states, "Film making is the
only job I know well." Despite the government's censorship on
his works, some consider him to be a state film marker! Before the
Revolution, these critics- who are against Mehrjui- pointed to The
Cow as an outstanding example. They questioned how a young film
maker who had recently returned from the U.S.(in 1966) could
accept the responsibility of making a film with a script by one of
the best Iranian playwrights- Gholam-Hossein Saedi- and a cast
which included the best stage actors of the time. They also asked
how the Ministry of Culture (of those days) could agree to invest
in a film maker whose last film (Diamond 33) was a total failure.
Isn't this related to the cultural policies of the Shah in those
years (the early 70s), which was asking foreign-educated film
makers to make films which would bring respect to the Iranian
policy makers in the international film festivals? In spite of all
this, The Cow was kept on the shelf for one year, and Mehrjui's
other films also experienced censorship too.
After many years, and even after the Revolution, some journalists
still criticized Mehrjui for his film Hamoon. They believed the
said film was actually the final result of the authorities'
Supportive- Guiding policies and that Mehrjui was the favorite
film maker of the officials. But Mehrjui's next film, Banoo(1992),
was banned by the same officials! Aside from this view, there were
three different polls taken by the critics in 1972, 1987, and 1997
for the Best Iranian Films of All Time, and The Cow was selected
as the best film in Iranian film history. Mehrjui is the best
adapter of literary works in the Iranian cinema and his only
unadapted work is The Tenants, which is quite different from his
other films.
Mehrjui- for the Iranian critics- is a representative of a
generation of film makers who developed the Iranian cinema. A
generation who, after thirty years of film making, are still among
the top ten film markers in Iran. This generation also includes
Bahram Bayzai, Nasser Taghavi, and Massoud Kimiai.
Mahrjui has a special style in making films that employs the
principles of professional film making for attracting common
viewers , avoiding cliches and searching for both contextual and
structural motifs in their work without fearing to use them.
After 26 years, this year Mehrjui's The Pear Tree won The Silver
Hugo in the Chicago Festival where his film The Cow received The
Silver Hugo for Best Actor in 1971. Banoo was screened after seven
years in Iran and will have its international premiere in Berlin.
Mehrjui is awaiting the public screening of his film The Pear Tree
and also the public reaction about this different film. That's why
the section SHORT CUTS starts by introducing Mehrjui and his
films.
In this section, a synopsis of each film is included and a
monologue which contains quotations by Mehrjui during the film's
screening. There are reviews by film critics on each film
indicated by [*]. Then there is my own statement on each film,
indicated by [**], which is followed by a question that might
occur in one's mind after watching the film. The main source for
preparing this article has been Nasser Zeraati's monograph on
Dariush Mehrjui and the "Mehrjui" section in the second
volume of the book World Film Directors (edited by John Wakeman,
1988) . The interviews published in the Film Monthly and Picture
World magazines as well as the Daily Bulletins of the Fajr
Film Festival have also been used |
Diamond
33
Prod:
Nasserodin Montakhab, Mohammad Reza Fazeli/Scr: Dariush Mehrjui/D.o.P:
Mostafa Alemian / Ed: Moussa Afshar/Mus: Morteza Hannaneh/Cast:
M.Fazeli, Nancy Kwack, Taghi Zohouri, Kanaan Kiani/Running Time:
120 min./Col./1967
Synopsis: A James Bound-type of snatch-and-grab film with traces
of comedy. A professor who has discovered a formula for producing
oil gets killed in Tehran. Linda (Nancy Kwach), the professor's
niece, begins an investigation into the matter as a member of the
International Police. Her rescuer-named Reza (Reza Fazeli)- is a
youth from Tehran. After several events, the criminals are caught
and in the end we find out that Reza is also a member of Iran's
police force.
Monologue: This film has a tragic
and complicated story, and I don't like to fuss about remembering
it all over again. But two or three reasons- added
together-contributed to the making of the film: I was
inexperienced and foolish and that's why I accepted all the
conditions and commands. Another factor is the unwarranted success
and fame of the film. Instead of a simple commercial,
black-and-white film, it became a full-color, all-conflict one in
two hours. On one side, we had the three producers (who fought
with each other all the time) and on the other side, my producers
and my own dream to make a full-color film with a foreign actress.
The film ended up to be two and a half hours in order to compete
with the three-hour Indian film Sangam. It was all very foolish.
It was a James Bond kind of film with violence straight through,
and in just in two and a half-hours! So, the film gradually
swelled and finally burst, and the viewers refused it. (1977)
* Diamond 33 was a film which was mentally unsuitable for the
director and practically unsuitable for the producer. Diamond 33
was actually a childish grin and an unfinished comedy of
adventures, jokes, and funny riddles. (Mihan Bahrami, 1971)
* Unlike many others, I was traces of intelligence and smartness
in the film. In my book, such a film is too professional to be the
director's first work. (Iraj Saberi, 1977)
** An over-stated jeering James Bond-type, run-and-chase film of
the Roger Moore kind. The Iranian signs are to be kept in one's
mind, like the sequence of conflict in the Zoorkhaneh (arena for
the Iranian traditional wrestling). It's actually a
super-production in its own time, which ended in the bankruptcy of
the producers and the newly-founded studio. And the objecting
critics always remind Mehrjui of it ( he usually fails to remember
the film) as a dark and weak point among his works.
Question: Can young Mehrjui continue making films in Iran?
|
| The
Cow [Gaw]
Prod:
Ministry of Culture and Art / Scr: Gholam Hossein Saedi, Dariush
Mehrjui (Based on the novel "The Mourners of Bayal" by
Gh.Saedi) / D.o.P: Fereidoun Ghovanlou / Ed: Zari Khalaj / Mus:
Hormoz Farhat / Cast: Ezzatollah Entezami, Ali Nasirian, Jafar
Vali, Jamshid Mashayekhi, Parviz Fannizadeh/ Running Time: 104
min./ B&w / 1969 (released 1970)
Synopsis : In Mashd-Hassan's absence, his cow-his only sources of
income-dies after an attack on the village. The villagers lie to
him and tell him that his cow has run away, but Mashd-Hassan
doesn't believe it and goes crazy. The elder folks of the village
take him to the city for treatment because he imagines he is Mashd-
Hassan's cow. In the city, he frees himself from the rope which
has kept him tied up (just like a cow) and falls down from a
height to his death. Monologue: Mashd-Hassan is in love with his
cow. But this love has economical and financial roots, just like a
baby who receives nourishment from its mother. This love isn't
mystical and is quite down-to-earth. Mashd-Hassan wants to make up
for what he's lost, which is actually his cow. And in his book, a
part of his soul. He tries to imitate his beloved- the Cow- in the
stable, which stands for the mother's womb. That's why he tries to
imitate the cow, his love. And this love prompts him to create the
reality of a cow in himself. He degenerates into the being of a
mother (Cow) in the stable once again, but this degeneration has
its limits. When it goes too far, Mashd-Hassan actually believes
he is a cow. At this time, the real Mashd-Hassan is sitting alert
and awaiting on the stable's roof from the point of view of the
metamorphosed Mashd-Hassan. Mashd-Hassan is led to a kind of
perfection in this degeneration. When he faces danger, he thinks
that the only way to freedom is through self-dependence. This pure
and honest act ends in death, which is actually real evolution for
him. (1972)
* The Cow's story-which speaks of the harm of emotional
attachments- succeeds in nourishing its sincere characters and
more important is the effective cinematic narration of the story.
That's why we can simply claim that The Cow is considered a good
film.(Houshang Hesami, 1969)
* Dariush Mehrjui has worked on this story with an emotional mind.
Thus, the film's quite lovable. An unemotional mind or a kind of
mocking work, could have spoilt the story, but Mehrjui never makes
mistakes... The Cow is a simple and touching tragedy from Iran.
(Roger Ebert, 1971)
** Among the first different films of the seventies in Iranian
cinema. No one directed a political descriptive story, with
intellectual theater actors who could provide such a successful
combination. At least not as the work of a director who has
recently returned to his country . It was difficult for the
critics to analyze this film's success in both winning
international prizes and selling well, while dramatic-musical
films were popular. Mehrjui finds his film family: a group of the
theater's best actors (especially Entezami), a director of
photography, and a musician. The Cow was the only film produced
before the Islamic Revolution in Iran that was credited by the
country's top governmental authorities after the Revolution.
Question: How did the director of Diamond 33 make The Cow? Does
Mehrjui have the ability of adapting to the conditions (e.g.the
government's censorship?).
|
| Mr.Naive
(Mr.Simpleton) [Aghai e haloo]
Prod:
Dr.Houshang Tabiban / Scr: Ali Nasirian, Dariush Mehrjui (Based on
the play "Mr.Naive" by A.Nasirian) / D.o.P: Houshang
Bahar-lou / Mus: Hormoz Farhat / Cast: Ali Nasirian, Ezzatollah
Entezami, Fakhri Khorvash, Mohammad Ali Keshavarz/ Running Time:
114 min./B&W/ 1970 (released 1971)
Synopsis: A simple man (Mr.Naive) comes to Tehran from the country
to choose a wife . His friend Mohammadipour (Ezzatollah Entezami)
has a real estate agency. Simpleton meets Mehri (Fakhri Khorvash)
as she's wandering in a bridal-dress shop in the city.
Mohammadipour takes advantage of Mr.Naive in a deal. Mr.Naive
finds out that Mehri is a whore who doesn't want to stop her way
of life even though he proposes to her.Mr.Naive returns to the
country battered and beaten.
Monologue: Speaking about this film is a bit difficult. Mr.Naive
was actually a reactive film in response to the banning of The
Cow, and the first reaction (in a series) to the limitations and
postponement that my other films faced. As you know, the greatest
problem in my work is taking three steps forward and being pushed
two steps back because the authorities misunderstand my filmmaking
or they disliked the three steps I took, which is usually ahead of
the common sense of the society. And, in this way, by taking
advantage- or actually disadvantage- of their power, they've been
an obstacle to my work.(1998)
* Mr.Naive is a film for the general public. It brings up a great
social problem: the relationship between the busy society of the
"big city" versus the country, although individuals are
the focus in the story. Mr. Naive is a sociological film, which
can seriously be introduced as the first social-critical film of
our young cinema. (Jamshid Arjmand, 1970)
* The film's background isn't clear, and the director cannot
create the wicked atmosphere he actually has in mind for Tehran
[as the capital]. So, the whole film is the story of a stupid
foolishness that isn't even funny. (Bizhan Khorsand, 1970)
** An Iranian Mr.Deeds Goes to Town (F.Capra,1936) . It's
Mehrjui's second cooperation with hid cinematic family with the
outstanding acting of Entezami (in two roles) and also Nasirian.
Less descriptive and political, and more moral and social. Just
fit for the viewer's taste of that time. The transformation of the
cast's successful theater performances in to a cinematic
production. The first step of Mehrjui into directing intellectual
and commercial films alternately. Of course with fine and
calculated directing, suitable for capturing the main prizes of
the Sepas Festival.
Question: Is the success of the play and the cast's performance
the reason for the film's success, or is it the intelligence of
Mehrjui who made a film version out of the play?
|
| The
Postman [Postchi]
Prod: Mehdi
Misaghih / Scr: Dariush Mehrjui, (with inspiration from the play
"Woyzeck" by Goerge Buchner) / D.o.P: Houshang Bahar-lou
/ Ed: Talaat Mirfendererski / Mus: Hormoz Farhat / Cast: Ali
Nasirian, Ezzatollah Entezami, Zhaleh Sam, Ahmad Reza Ahmadi,
Bahman Forsi / Running Time: 115 min./B&W/ 1970 (released
1972)
Synopsis: Taghi- a postman- lives with his beautiful young wife on
his master's land. He is sexually weak. His doctor is a vet who
treats him with herbal medicines. The master's nephew is a young
engineer whose aim is to establish a pig breeding farm on his
uncle's land. The young engineer sleeps with Taghi's wife. Taghi's
ego is hurt because of humiliation and hard work. When he finds
out about the engineer's relationship with his wife, he kills his
wife and goes crazy. They take him to a mental institution.
Monologue: After the screening of The Postman, many viewers and
critics accused me of suspicion. This group stated that Mehrjui's
film characters are always weak in the society. They especially
wanted to knew the reason for Taghi's fight with the master with
an empty gun in hand. But they had forgotten the point that I only
discuss the problems as a director, and finding the answers is
among the viewers duties.... (1979)
The important discovery of the "Directors' Fortnight" in
the 25th Cannes Film Festival is The Postman. (Gerard
Langlois,1972)
* The Postman is a perfect film in the fields of dialogue,
photography and direction, and Mehrjui is an independent director
who doesn't follow any special style. (Jeune Cinema, 1972)
* The Postman is a good film. But it isn't a good Iranian film.
Despite the fact, one can enjoy it. (Fereidoun Moezi Moghadam,
1972)
** Highly descriptive, highly political and fine material for
those days. Serves as the raw material for Marxist critics to
compare the village conditions with the city conditions.
(Something which wasn't much possible in The Cow). Traces of
Fellini and Bunuel's style is visible, but is also quite adapted
to the Iranian culture (quite like Mehrjui's other films). His
cinematic Family goes on its way, and so does the image of the
gun-in-hand passive man turned into a symbol for Hamoon's
analyzers. A successful film in festivals, but unknown to the
Iranian viewer.
Question: Has the Shah government's censorship changed the film
into a symbolic one or did the film's topic? Has Mehrjui chosen
this way of filmmaking to show-off his intellectuality?
|
| The
Cycle [Dayer a Mina]
Prod: Tel
Film / Scr: Gholam-Hossein Saedi & Dariush Mehrjui (Based on a
story by Gholam-Hossein Saedi) / D.o.P: Houshang Bahar-lou / Ed:
Talat Mir-Fendereski / Cast: Ezzatollah Entezami, Ali Nasirian,
Foruzan, Saied Kangarani / Running Time: 100 min./Col./1974
(released 1977)
Synopsis: A young boy named Ali comes to Tehran from a small town
with his old and ill father who needs medical treatment. Ali has
difficulty in providing the amount of money he needs for the
hospital and he meets a blood-dealer named Sameri. Ali cleverly
learns how to get blood from the addicts and indigents in the poor
neighborhoods and distribute it in the black market. Ali's father
dies, but Ali ignores the event and continues his new way of life.
Monologue: There isn't any kind of compulsion or anxiety in the
film. The Cycle is a hint to a period of bewilderment, which is
the preoccupation of the characters in the film... .
And The Cycle is a hint to this point that life's not only what
our thoughts lead us to and let us think. Also another point is
that observing what is heavenly, high and grand requires holding
your head high and looking above to get ride of what's too
down-to-earth. (1979)
* Taking advantage of the main characters as symbols as symbols
for the internal contradictions in Iran in those days, is one of
the film's outstanding points. Ali, Sameri and Ali's father are
the symbols of youth, religion and oppression. This film will
greatly help the viewer realize and understand the current
controversial events in Iran. (Udayan Gupta, 1979)
* Mehrjui has tied himself up and gathered all his abilities to
stay away from over-stating things or beating around the bush. He
has transferred his thoughts and ideas into images with more
certainty, and he solves the problems of time and space. (Zaven
Ghoukasian, 1978)
** This film is Mehrjui's three-year experience with censorship
and the omission of the film's most sensitive and important scene.
The film, screened in Iran and abroad in the year of the Islamic
Revolution (1978-9), was interpreted as a political film. For this
reason, its artistic values were overlooked. This film is
Mehrjui's most important and successful film in the international
scene. The film attracted the authorities' attention, but it
didn't affect Iran's cinema. The addition of two commercial
actors- Saied Kangarani and Foruzan- to Mehrjui's cinema family
was the film's economic support... .
Question: How
will Mehrjui come to terms with the censorship and the stagnancy
of the seventies and after the Revolution?
|
| The
School We Went To [Madreseh e keh miraftim]
Prod:
Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young
Adults (IDCA) / Scr: Dariush Mehrjui, Fereidoun Doustaar (Based on
the Story "The Adle-Afagh School's Backyard" by
Fereidoun Doustdar) / D.o.P Farrokh Majidi / Ed: Manouchehr Oliai
/ Cast: Ali Nasirian, Ezzatollah Entezami, Amrollah Saberi /
Ghasem Seif / Running Time: 86 min./Col./1980 (released 1989)
Synopsis: The principal of Adle-Afagh School is an oppressive man.
He has put the school librarian in charge of his personal accounts
and treats the children badly.
He even removes their school newspaper from the bulletin board
because of its criticism about the school's conditions. But the
kids- with their literature teacher's support- succeed in forcing
the school authorities into pinning the paper up again.
Monologue: In The School We Went To, the good people are on one
side and bad ones on the other. Poses are obvious and clear. I
think that this is because of the special conditions in the
country those days [1979]. I guess we were all affected by the
situation at that time.(1988)
* Mehrjui has separated the young generation from the other ones.
He has approached them with a kind of idealism and as we see, the
teenagers finally succeed in fulfilling their goal.(Javad Tousi,
1989)
*... Social changes have strongly captured the film and it seems
very old-fashioned and worn-out for today. After all, ten years
have passed since its production.(Hamid Reza Sadr, 1989)
This is Mehrjui's second experience with censorship. After ten
years, the film was screened and it reflected that Mehrjui didn't
have a correct understanding of the 1979 Revolution. Unlike
Kiarostami who found his way in the IDCA (now Kanoon), Mehrjui
never worked with this organization again.
Question: Has the Revolution influenced Dariush Merjui's
filmmaking?
|
| Voyage
Au Pays De Rimbaud (Journey To The Land of Rimbaud) [Safar beh
sarzamineh Ramboo]
Prod: FR3
INA,Martin Durand& Armad Leibvich / Scr: Dariush Mehrjui /
D.o.P: Jack Pamart, Isabelle Domerc / Ed: Domnique Bellfort,
Veonique Parnet, Mus: D.Mehrjui Cast: Nicolas joly, Mathieu Jolly,
Nicole Seran, Allen Macvin, Marc Wery Macvin/
RunningTime:65min./Col./1983
Synopsis: The film includes the director's personal understanding
of the life of the poet Arthur Rimbaud in hometown (Chervile,
France), along with the views of the researchers and translators
of his works. Thus Rimbaud's poems are reflected in the film's
images of his hometown.
Monologue: And I - as an Eastern wanderer in the West - went
toward him [Rimbaud] to find what he had searched for in the East.
(1984]
* We French thought everything was said about Rimbaud, but
Mehrjui's approach proved us wrong. He has refined time and joins
the Rimbaud of the nineteenth century to the inhabitants of the
Ardennes region of the twentieth century. He teaches us numerous
points about this part of our country and our beloved poet.
(Martin Diodone,1983)
|
| The
Tenants (The Lodgers) [Ejarehneshinha]
Prod:
Mohammad Ali Soltan-Zadeh, Pakhshiran Co. / Scr: Dariush Mehrjui /D.o.P:
Hassan Gholi-Zadeh / Ed: Hassan Hassandoost, Dariush Mehrjui / Mus:
Nasser Cheshm-Azar / Cast: Ezzatollah Entezami, Hamideh
Kheir-Abadi, Hossein Sarshar, Akbar Abdi/ Running Time: 130
min./Col./1987
Synopsis: An apartment building is close to collapsing because it
wasn't built properly. Despite this fact, the building's tenants
want to take possession of it after discovering that the owner has
died in a foreign country and seems to have no heir. Abbas (Ezzatollah
Entezami) tries to evict the tenants by making false documents,
but the tenants legalize their claim by repairing the building. At
the peak of the Fight between Abbas and the tenants, the building
is ruined. None of the tenants are hurt and with the arrival of
the government officials, the tenants are hopeful that they can
own it in the future.
Monologue: About the film, I must say the main incentive was the
problem of apartment life, which I experienced myself. I loved to
show the difficulties of apartment life. For instance, the time
when the pipes of tap break and water suddenly rushes out. The
important and main points were the neighbor's relationship, their
needs and so on. I wanted to make a film about today's upper
middle-class, the mentality of the brokers, and the deterioration
of moral relationships and traditions that we had in the past ...
All in all, the film reflects our present life and discusses
modernity. An absurd success was may main consideration in making
this film.(1987)
* The film consists of a wide-range and complicated collection of
relationships, beliefs, and approaches. This shortage of time,
number of jokes, and humorous moments keep the film's main message
concealed, meanwhile, what is left is a package of jokes and the
laughing audience. (Jamal Hajagha-Mohammad, 1987)
* If the example of an old man forced to sell his blood [in the
film The Cycle] is clear and critical, can't we name The Tenants
as such a symbol for the film's own time? Mehrjui is very good at
using sarcasm and cleverly leaves the answer to us.(Kevin Thomas,
Los Angeles Times, 1990)
** The funniest film in Iran's film history. Mehrjui's return to
the top of the cinema, in both critical and commercial points.
Entezami is the last member of Mehrjui's film family in this film.
Just like all his other films, Mehrjui's The Tenants contains
political and symbolic examples all through it, and this property
somehow- unclearly- criticizes the government. But the director
himself, refused to admit the symbolic instances when interviewed.
Question: Is Mehrjui's place in the post- revolutionary cinema in
the comic section? Where is the social-political Mehrjui?
|
| Shirak
[shirak]
Prod:
Massoud Kimiai, Dariush Mehrjui / Scr: Kambozia Partovi and
Dariush Mehrjui (based on a story by K. Partovi) / D.o.P Hassan
Gholi-Zadeh / Ed: Hassan Hassandoost / Mus: Nasser Cheshm- Azar /
Cast: Ezzatollah Entezami, Farzaneh Kaboli, Hamid Assadi / Running
Time 105 min./ Col./ 1998
Synopsis: After shirak's father dies in his struggle with the
boars, Shirak becomes the head of the household. The village's
fields are still under the boar's attack and the old field-keeper
can't do anything about it. Shirak picks dates from the trees
along with his friend and buys a watchdog from the gypsies, which
prompts the villagers to make fun of him. The boars attack the
patch one night and Shirak and his dog fight with them. They kill
all the boars and the dog is also killed in the fight .
Monologue: I can remark that this film is different from my other
works. Maybe its because I've used epic for the first time to
describe the story. The major reason for my attraction to story
was its difference. Another attractive point of the story was the
growth of the youth and the way you can show the process of growth
in a teenager by putting thoughts and actions together into one.
It's the never- ending process of a human being in search of
himself and his personality, and that's the reason he has to go
through a particular route. (1988)
* Shirak is the beginning of an unclear path. Mehrjui is
altogether a whole different story. The announcement of the end of
the last period and the beginning of the new one is doubtless. The
director is in the midst of starting a curved and unclear path, a
different and maybe even a new one. (Khosro Dehghan, 1988)
* Shirak is a good Film because it is clear, sincere, and
easygoing. It says what it wants, but not in an exaggerating or
ostentatious way. Shirak says what it wants while distancing
itself from political- philosophical gestures. The critics must
apply themselves to discover the film's anti- motto.(Abdollah
Esfandiari 1988)
** Mehrjui has experienced different ways and methods from the
Revolution on.Shirak is among the experiments he never tried
again. The village environment, epic narration, and teenage story
doesn't make for a Mehrjui success. Although the director insists
on making epic descriptions, Iranians don't get too excited about
analyzing political symbols since the Islamic Revolution.
Question: Why isn't Mehrjui successful (like The Cow) in handling
a symbolic rural drama? Does this reflect the absence of
Gholam-Houssien Saedi's cooperation in the film?
|
| HAMOON
[Hamoon]
Prod:
Dariush Mehrjui, Pakhshiran Co./ Scr. Dariush Mehrjui/ D.o.P
Touraj Mansouri/ Ed: Hassan Hassandoost/ Mus: Nasser Cheshm-Azar
(Based on themes of Bach)/ Cast: Khosro Shakibai, Ezzatollah
Entezami, Hossein Sarshar, Bita Farrahi/ Running Time 120
min./Col./ 1990
Synopsis: The film's story is actually a day (24 hours) in the
life of an intellectual writer named Hamid Hamoon (Khosro Shakibai)
who's tied up with problems like his Ph.D dissertation on Love
& Faith in Abraham, going through the process of getting a
divorce, his laziness at work, his mental preoccupation with
tradition and modernity, his business in medical instruments'
marketing, and finally searching for his old friend Ali. At the
end of thd day, he shoots his wife with his antique gun. Then he
leaves for the north of the country to find Ali. He doesn't find
him at his place of employment and tries to commit suicide in the
sea, but is rescued by Ali in the morning.
Monologue: In a way, we can think of Hamoon as an Iranian
intellectual, but not a particular kind of intellectual. He's
actually an entangled man who doesn't recognize his physical and
mental position, neither in the society nor in his own mind
(1990).
* Hamoon isn't only a philosophical film in accordance with Iran's
"today" fashion of cinema, but it also has the
spectacular property of the contemporary man's psychlogy; his
needs and losses; the social, moral and spiritual differences he
faces; and the contradiction of the materialistic behavior of the
society versus its spiritual beliefs. The film's confused
atmosphere is exactly in harmony with its story, and emotionally
involves the spectator with Hamoon's thoughts. Hamoon is the real
tale of a generation (Tahmineh Milani, 1990).
* Dariush Mehrjui's Hamoon is a male mid-life crisis drama that in
turn illuminates what life is like in Iran today. This well
wrought, beautifully-acted film plus Mehrjui's recent and equally
critical social satire, The Tenants, are encouraging signs of an
increasing freedom of expression in Iran. ( Kevin Thomas, 1990)
** Hammon is Mehrji's outstanding performance in the basic
structure of narration, dialogues, and characterization. Khosro
Shakibai created an ever-lasting cinematic character and it seems
as though Bita Farrahi was made for the role of Mahshid. Hamoon
shall always be a criterion for Mehrjui. It is the suitable
combination of the artistic and commercial kind of cinema. The
film was also a successful example of policymaking for the
authorities. But Hamoon attracted the people even more than the
critics and according to their choice- is one of best Iranian
films of post- Revolution era.
Question: When will Mehrjui be awaken from Hamoon's dreams?
|
| Banoo
[Banoo]
Prod: Majid
Modarresi, Mohammad- Mehdi Dadgoo / Scr: Daruish Mehrjui / D.o.P:
Touraj Mansouri / Ed: Hassan Hassandoost / Mus: Nasser Cheshm-Azar
/ Cast: Ezzatol-lah Entezami, Bita Farrahi, Khosro Shakibai,
Gowhar Kheir-Andish, Fathali Oveisi, Ferdows Kaviani, Mahmud
Kalari / Running Time: 113 min./ Col./1992 (released 1998)
Synopsis: Banoo's husband has gone on a trip and she (Bita Farrahi)
is left alone. Nothing relaxes her. She asks a poor family who
lives in her neighborhood to keep her company and free her from
her loneliness. They gradually make themselves at home and act as
though the house is theirs. Banoo who was happy and initially
considered the family's presence a humane gesture, starts worrying
when they start act strangely. Finally, these poor people decide
to attack Banoo and rob her house one night when suddenly the
family doctor appears on the scene and police come into action. In
the end, Banoo catches a train by herself to Mashhad ( a holy city
in northeast Iran).
Monologue: The main idea of the screenplay was adapted from a real
story. A few people had come to a garden in the neighborhood,
stolen some fruit and also tried to throw the gardener and his
wife out.
Banoo is somehow similar to Bunuel's Viridiana and has a theme on
which literature, cinema, and theater have utilized a lot. Such a
theme has been repeated in most topics: a guardian angel who takes
care of the weak and to whom everyone turns. Such a story is
found, in a way, in Viridiana too. But I think that the basic
structure of my work, the characters' behavior and also the type
of relationship is different from that film.
In respect to the presence of social categorization and sarcasm,
my answer is negative. I basically disagree with sloganlike
categorizing of social groups. I don't choose to see everything as
black-and-white. Man is beyond this kind of grouping and my aim is
approaching the real being of mankind, not the social group they
belong to... Anytime I've made a film (since The Cow), I've faced
this type of approach toward my work, which is not only weakening
but corny. The allegorical approach of the story in which the
house is meant to symbolize a bigger place (the country), and the
people of the story are the members of the different classes of
society. Such an approach weakens the poetic universality of the
work. I wanted to forget the classical differences between people
in their positions... The positive point in artistic works is that
it goes beyond history and rises above the particular
social/historical properties too... anyway, the mood of the film
is mystical (1992).
** Despite the Bunuel and Fellini-like appearance of Mehrjui's
works, traces of Scorcese's directing method is visible in his
films- especially in Banoo.
The film experienced censorship and it is accused of insulting the
indigent class. Banoo is the last collaboration of Entezami and
Mehrjui. Makeup is at the peak and Bita Farrahi is perfect.
Notes after The Public Screening
Monologue: Banoo is actually the development of Hamoon's theme.
Banoo is in fact, a female Hamoon and the film is the story of her
suffering. (1998)
* Despite all the artistic values of Banoo, Mehrjui's social point
of view isn't realistic. (Javad Toussi, 1998).
* Among Mehrjui's works, Banoo is obviously very important from
both the form and structural point-of-view as well as the content.
Mehrjui has taken advantage of some structural elements which
later turned into the permanent elements of his films, and he used
it for the first time in Banoo. (Shahzad Rahmati, 1998).
** After seven hopeless years, Mehrjui's previously banned film,
Banoo, was finally screened. And even though many of the people
had seen the pirate video, it still met with the viewer's
appreciation. Of course, maybe so many years of being banned has
been much better for Mehrjui, seeing as the film has become
independent in the gap from Hamoon and is reported in Mehrjui's
work experience as an independent work.
Question: Why hasn't Banoo been screened in the foreign festivals?
It's exactly contrary to what Makhmalbaf did with his two banned
films.
|
| Sara
[sara]
Prod:
Hashem Seifi, Dariush Mehrjui/ Scr: Dariush Mehrjui (Based on
Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House)/ D.o.P.: Mahmud Kalari/ Ed: Hassan
Hasandoost / Cast: Niki Karimi, Amin Tarokh, Khosro Shakibai,
Yasmin Malek-Nasr/Running Time: 100min./Col./1993
Synopsis: Sara (Niki Karimi) saves her husband's life by
collecting the money needed for his operation without his
knowledge. When he finally finds out, instead of thanking her, he
gets upset because now they are indebted to her husband's bribe-
taking clerk. When the situation improves, Sara recognizes a new
outlook concerning her own life and separates from her husband.
Monologue: In a way, one can conclude that the center of the
story, or in other words, the film's idea and feeling is money.
One can state that money and the economy can influence and change
peoples' relationships.
* Mehrjui's Sara is a modern melodramatic film, a film based on an
effective, exact and tactful story . It's full of points related
to the current and up-dated social conditions (Ahmad Talebinezhed,
1992).
** Sara is quite faithful to its story (the play), but is also
quite adapted with the Iranian culture. This ability is Mehrjui's
outstanding advantage. In spite of using creative ways in both
photography and editing, both the film itself and its story are
quite soft, easy and attractive to the viewers; particularly in
the Iranian society in which women are fond of women's rebellion
even in pictures. Niki Karimi delivers a wonderful performance and
Sara is a new event in the Iranian melodramatic film history.
Question: Are the Conditions of women in Iran Similar to those of
Ibsen's time? (Which marks the beginning of the feminism period?
|
| Pari
[Pari]
Prod: Dariush Mehrjui, Hasan Shafiee/ Scr: Dariush Mehrjui/ D.o.P.:
Ali-Reza Zarrindast / Ed: Hassan Hassandoost / Cast: Niki Karimi,
Khosro Shakibai, Ali Mosaffa/ Running Time: 115 min./Col./1995
Synopsis: Pari(Niki Karimi) is bewildered and confused after
reading the "Green Book", which is about the mystical
behavior of a Gnostic. Pari- who is a university literature
student-finds the book which belonged to her older brother (Asad)
who committed suicide. Pari is preoccupied with his memory. Pari
lets her other brother-who has a special mystical power-know about
her doubts about marrying her fiancée. After spending the night
in the burnt hut where Asad killed himself, she finally becomes
calm and comes to grips with the practical section of mystical
powers.
Monologue: Many people accused me of being an opportunist, but I
must honestly say that I always try to make what I like. Sometimes
this desire is in agreement with the viewer's favor, and sometimes
it is not. Pari is, all in all, a difficult and complicated film;
it is also special. No one, not even myself believed it would have
such an effect on the spectators in Iran. (1997)
* It doesn't seem very sensible to imagine that foreign spectators
can take in many points from the film Pari. This isn't a positive
or negative point for the film, it's just its property.(Iraj
Karimi, 1997)
* Dariush Mehrjui has utilized Hamoon's film- structure once again
in Pari and emphasizes more on characterization, narrating
relationships, and people's positions in shaping the dramatic
surface of the film. And by avoiding the all-narrative method of
description, shows their world more visibly. Pari too (like Hamoon),
has a complicated way of putting the story which has harmony with
the film's internal theme.(Tahmasb Solhju, 1997)
** A quite personal, mystical film in favor with the new cinematic
policymakers' ideas. Only Mehrjui can find a relationship between
Salinger's stories and the Islamic mystical ideas that is able to
attract the young audience of the Iranian cinema. We also must not
forget Niki Karimi's presence as an intellectual, rebel veil-
wearer.
Mehrjui third film about women is still affected by Hamoon's
success. Mehrjui doesn't have any justifying explanation about the
film's happy ending, despite the mystical and intellectual
symptoms in it. This explanation comes in his next film- Leila-
which is a special type of film.
Question: Is the cinema a suitable medium for presenting Islamic
mystical definitions?
|
| Leila
[Leila]
Prod: Dariush Mehrjui, Faramarz Farazmand / Scr: Dariush Mehrjui
(Based on a story by Mahnaz Ansarian) / D.o.P: Mahmud Kalari/ Ed:
Mustafa Kherghehpoush / Cast: Leila Hatami, Ali Mosaffa, Jamileh
Sheikhi, Mohammad Reza Sharifinia, Touran Mehrzad, Amir Pievar /
Running Time 110 min./Col./1997
Synopsis: On her birthday, Leila (Leila Hatami) discovers that
she's barren, and later the doctor announces the fact. After her
mother-in-law persists, Leila not only agrees with her husband's
second marriage, but also tries to encourage him. Several
prospects are introduced to her husband Reza. Finally, after the
fourth proposal, Reza marries one of them. Leila -who feels that
Reza has failed her- leaves her own house in tears for her
parents'. The second wife bears a girl and her mother-in-law is
disappointed in her because the child isn't a boy. Reza and his
new wife get divorced; she marries her cousin and receives her
alimony. After a few years, Leila sees Baran (Reza's little girl)
in her parent's house, and the scene reminds her of the first time
she met Reza in the same house.
Monologue: The film's red color stands for love. The film is based
on love, it's a love film. It's the first love film I've made.
It's about the love between two people: a husband and wife. They
love one another and don't want things to happen this way, but
they are forced into the situation and none of them is guilty.
Their situation is the result of the love and affection between
them. Leila thinks that she can make her mother-in-law happy with
such a decision and believes Reza is right about wanting a kid,
his own kid.
When you view the events taking places as an outsider looking in,
you conclude that the girl is crazy and pushing herself toward a
predicted kind of fate. But when considering the facts internally
and from the inside of people, you conclude that everyone has a
right to their actions.
* Leila's structure is almost based on Brescht's alienation style,
but Mehrjui takes advantage of this style in a creative way. He
mixes it with up-dated methods of filmmaking and finally creates
an artistic and marvelous piece of work (Behzad Eshghi, 1997).
* Mehrjui's Leila is a womanly film, not a feminist one (Mostafa
Jalali-Fakhr, 1997).
** None of Mehrjui's films has ever caused so many different
opinions among the viewers, especially women. Mehrjui has taken
advantage of tricky methods in both photography and editing, but
the film's subject is uncommon and that is the outstanding point.
Leila is similar to The Tenants from both the sales viewpoint and
the different thematic style.
Question: Does Mehrjui want to continue working on this type of
good selling melodrama?
|
| The
Pear Tree [Derakhteh golabi]
Prod: Dariush Mehrjui, Faramarz Farazmand, Farabi Cinema
Foundation / Scr: Dariush Mehrjui, Goli Taraghi (Based on a story
by G. Taraghi) / D.o.P Mahmud Kalari / Cast: Homayoun Ershadi,
Gol-Shifteh Farahani, Mohammad-Reza Shaaban- Nouri, Nematollah
Gorji, Jafar Bozorgi / Running Time: 100 min./Col./1998
Synopsis: Mahmud (Hamayoun Ershadi) is a middle-aged poet/writer
who goes to a garden in his hometown to write. The old persistent
gardener insists on the fact that the pear tree, which is the
reminder of his childhood, doesn't have any pears this year. At
first , Mahmud ignores the fact but upon remembering his youth, he
finds his first great love. In this way, he recalls his whole life
and gradually discovers the mystery of the pear tree's silence.
Monologue: Each of the facts and events of life take place in a
special position and time. A time for being born, a time for
death, a time for destroying, and a time for building. A time for
sewing and a time for tearing. A time for silence and a time for
speaking. (1998)
* The Pear Tree- Unlike Mehrjui's previous films, he excludes the
young generation(in particular women) and sticks to the problems
of his own generation's intellectuals. This is why the film is one
of the most straight-forward films by Mehrjui, and it does not
have anything to do with opportunity or common interest (Naghmeh
Samini, 1998)
* A writer goes to his father's garden to write a book. He reviews
his past, and we find out who he was before. He wanted to correct
everybody and everything, but now he can't even get along with
himself. The film's atmosphere reminds one of Sadegh Hedayat's
stories (Author of The Blind Owl and famous Iranian writer of the
twentieth century) ; a kind of pleasant bitterness is woven into
the film's texture (Nasser Saffarian, 1998).
** Mehrjui has finally found his style of storytelling and
narration. The film can't create any kind of negative and strange
conclusion or misunderstanding. No one can accuse Mehrjui of being
an opportunist. A masterpiece. It's a love-story, familiar to the
middle-aged generation whose youth was overshadowed by the
Revolution.
The summer afternoon sequence, the film's photography, the
editing, and particularly Mehrjui's mise en scene are all truly
artistic in a special way.
Question: Isn't making films for the general audience every other
film- enough?
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|
Filmography(1968)
Diamond 33, (1969) The Cow (released in 1971), (1971) Ghanat
(short film), (1971)The Brick (short film), (1972) The Postman,
(1974) The Cycle (released in 1977), (1976) The sacrifice-
(short film), (1976) Alamut (TV docu- fiction), (1977) Donation
(short film), (1978) Kidney Transplant (short film), (1980) The
School We Went To (released in 1989),(1983) Voyage au Pays de
Rimbaud (TV docu-fiction), (1986) The Lodgers, (1987) Shirak,
(1990) Hamoon, (1992) Banoo (released in 1999), (1993) Sara,
(1995) Pari, (1977) Leila, (1998) The Pear Tree.
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|
National
& International Awards for Mehrjui's films
1) Best
Script Prize ( Mehrjui & G.Hossein Sa'edi) for the The Cow
in the 2nd Sepas National FilmFestival, Tehran, 1970
2) 2nd Best Film Prize went to The Cow in the 1st
National Film Festival of Tehran,1970
3) Golden Plaque for Best Music (Hormoz Farhat) in The Cow
in the 1st National Film Festival of Tehran , 1970
4) Critics' Award went to The Cow in the 28th Venice
International Film Festival, 1971
5) Silver Hugo for Best Actor (Ezatollah Entezami) in The Cow
in the 7th Chicago International Film Festival, 1971
6) Best Film Prize went to Mr. Naive in the 3rd Sepas
National Film Festival, Tehran, 1971
7) Best Director Prize went to Mr. Naive in the 3rd Sepas
National Film Festival, Tehran, 1971
8) Best Actress Prize (Fakhri Khorvash) in Mr. Naive in
the 3rd Sepas National Film Festival, Tehran, 1971
9) Best Script Prize (Mehrhui & Ali Nasirian for Mr. Naive
in the 3rd Sepas National Film Festival, Tehran, 1971
10) Best Supporting Actor Prize (Ezatollah Entezami) in Mr.
Naive in the 3rd Tehran Sepas National Film Festival, 1971
11) Jury Special Award went to Mr. Naive in the Moscow
International Film Festival, 1971
12) Golden Plaque for Best Film for The Postman from the
Evangelical Church in the 22nd Berlin Intl Film Festival, 1972 13)
Critics' Award went to The Postman in the 1st Rotterdam
International Film Festival, 1972
14) Prix d'Antenn 2 went to The Cycle in the Paris
International Film Festival, 1977
15) Critics'Award went to The Cycle in the 26th Berlin
International Film Festival, 1978
16) Special Mention of the Catholic Church went to The Cycle
in the 26th Berlin International Film Festival, 1978
17) Best Film Award went to The Cycle in the 21st Prades
International Film Forum, France, 1980
18) Golden Plaque for Best Sound-Recording (Jahangir Mirshekari,
Asghar Shahverdi and Behrouz Moavenian) in The
Tenants in the 5th Fajr International Film Festival, Tehran
1987
19) Jury Special Award went to Mehdi Asadi, the child actor of Shirak
in the 6th Fajr Int'l Film Festival, 1988
20) Golden Plaque for All Chil Actors went to The School We
Went To in the 5th Tehran International Festival of Films
for Children& Young Adults,1989
21) Crystal Simorgh for Best Editing (Hassan Hassandoust) in Hamoon
in the 8th Fajr Int'l Film Festival, 1990
22) Crystal Simorgh for Best Photography (Touraj Mansoori) in Hamoon
in the 8th Fajr Intl Film Festival, 1990
23) Crystal Simorgh for Best Actor (Khosro Shakibai) in Hamoon
in the 8th Fajr Int'l Film Festival, 1990
24) Crystal Simorgh for Best Script (Dariush Mehrjui) in Hamoon
in the 8th Fajr Int'l Film Festival, 1990
25) Crystal Simorgh for Best Director in Hamoon in the
8th Fajr Int'l Film Festival, 1990
26) Bronze Prize went to Hamoon in the 24th Houston
International Film Festival, USA 1991
27) Crystal Simorgh for Best Supporting Actress (Yasmin Malak Nasr)
in Sara in the 11th Fajr Int'l Film Festival, 1993
28) Crystal Simorgh for Best Script (Dariush Mehrjui) in Sara
in the 11th Fajr Intl Film Festival, 1993
29) Golden Shell for Best Film went to Sara in the 41st
San Sebastian International Film Festival, Spain 1993
30) Silver Shell for Best Actress (Niki Karimi) in Sara
in the 41st San Sebastian Int'l Film Festival, Spain 1993
31) Silverl Mongolfiere went to Sara in the 15th Nantes 3
Continentsl Film Festival, 1993
32) Best Actress Award(Niki Karimi) in Sara in the 15th
Nantes 3 Continents Film Festival, 1993
33) Public Prize for Best Film went to Sara in the 15th
Nantes 3 Continents Film Festival, 1993
34) Audience 2nd Best Film Award went to Sara in the
Rennes International Film Festival, France 1994
35) Audience 5th Best Film Award went toSara in the 18th
Sao Paulo International Film Festival, Brazil 1994
36) Artistic Film Award went to Sara in the 12th Harara
International Kino Festival, Zimbabwe 1995
37) Crystal Simorgh for Best Supporting Actor (Ali Mosafa) in Pari
in the 13th Fajr Int'l Film Festival, 1995
38) Crystal Simorgh for Best Photography (Ali- Reza Zarrindast) in
Pari in the 13th Fajr Int'l Film Festival, 1995
39) Crystal Simorgh for Best Director for Pari in the
13th Fajr International Film Festival, Tehran 1995
40) Crystal Simorgh for Best Supporting Actress (Jamileh Sheikhi)
in Leila in the 15th Fajr Int'l Film Festival, 1997
41) Diploma of Honor for Best Actress (Leila Hatami) in Leila
in the 15th Fajr International Film Festival, 1997
42) Best Sound-Recording Prize(A. Shahverdi& J. Mirshekari) in
Leila in the 1st Iranian Feast of Cinema, 1997
43) Best Script Prize(Dariush Mehrjui) in Leila in the
1st Iranian Feast of Cinema, Tehran 1997
44) Best Director Prize in Leila in the 1st Iranian Feast
of Cinema, Tehran 1997
45) Best Actress Award (Gol- Shifteh Farahani) in The Pear
Tree in the Int'l Competition of the 16th Fajr Int;l Film,
1998
46) Best Photography Award (M. Kalari) in The Pear Tree
in the Int'l Competition of the 16th Fajr Int'l Film Festival,
1998 47) Silver Hugo went to The Pear Tree in the 34th
Chicago International Film Festival, 1998
48) Best Makeup Prize (Abdollah Eskandari) in Banoo in
the 2nd Iranian Feast of Cinema, Tehran 1998
49) Best Supporting Actress (Gohar Kheirandish) in the Banoo
in the 2nd Iranian Feast of Cinema, Tehran 1998
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