Anyone who has followed this blog over the past decade should know that I have a deep love for Iranian cinema. I am not sure what it is about that country, but it is very rare that I dislike any film that has been made there, and because of that, any time MIFF announces a film from Iran, I immediately attempt to book a ticket to it. Back when I first started attending MIFF in the mid-90's, they used to have a regular sidebar section dedicated to Iranian cinema, where I got to see the early works of Jafar Panahi, Asghar Farhadi, Mohammad Rasoulof, as well as films from Mohsen Makhmalbaf and Abbas Kiarostami, which all helped sculpture my passion. I will never forget my initial screening of “The White Balloon”, the directorial debut of Jafar Panahi, and how it opened my eyes wide to a new type of cinema miles away from the blockbusters of Hollywood. This year at MIFF, they once again had a sidebar dedicated to “New Iranian” cinema, which I booked as many sessions as I could. They also were screening of a brand new restoration of “Chess of the Wind (aka The Chess Game of the Wind)”, a 1976 film, that had previously been screened once at a Tehran film festival, and which was then subsequently and immediately banned after the Islamic Revolution of Iran in 1979. Unseen since then, it was feared that “Chess of the Wind” was lost to history. As much as I am a fan of Iranian cinema, I have seen very little from before the revolution of '79, so while I still immediately booked a ticket, I was a little unsure what I was getting myself in for, and from the still provided in the MIFF guide, I must admit it looked a little dull, and thus my excitement for “Chess of the Wind” wasn't very high.
When a Persian heiress dies suddenly, her enormous wealth falls to paraplegic daughter. Feeling entitled to that wealth, her abusive step father does not hide the fact that he wants her dead or gone, so that money will fall to him. Meanwhile his adopted sons also sit back in the shadows plotting themselves a way to get at the inheritance, with one of the boys intent on marrying the ailing cripple to do so. With the walls closing in on her, and her health continually deteriorating, the poor woman feels isolated and fears for her life. With only her devoted maid by her side, she knows her time is short, unless she herself makes the first move against the greedy men she shares a house with.
Before I begin this review in earnest, I must relay the amazing story on how this restoration came to be. As I mentioned above, the film was feared lost. However back in around 2013, the director's daughter, Gita Aslani Shahrestani, who is based in Paris, was writing a paper on auteur cinema for her PhD and started to look for a copy so to include “Chess of the Wind” in that paper. Hunting through international film archives, her search was fruitless, so she contacted her brother in Tehran, hoping he could find something there. He too was unsuccessful, and it seemed that the film was indeed gone forever. However in 2014, while visiting an antique store, the brother noticed some cans of film reels. Enquiring what was on the film inside, the owner of the store had no idea and said they were being sold as a novelty item. When he opened the cans, amazingly he found the original camera negatives to his father's lost film. He then smuggled the film out of Iran to safety, fearing it would be further lost to censors, where it could be restored once again to its former glory. And here we are today.
And thank god that “Chess of the Wind” was finally found because it truly is a lost masterpiece of Iranian cinema. I was not at all ready for what I was about to witness, when I finally set down to watch the film (which sadly, due to COVID-19, had to be changed to a virtual online MIFF screening). It is so different from the films that I am used to watching from Iran, both in content and formal style. In most reviews I have seen for the film, it is often compared to the cinema of Italian director Luchino Visconti. Initially I did not see the comparison, as I felt the film owed a debt more to Henri-Georges Clouzot than anyone else. However after more consideration, I agree that the Visconti comparison is apt, at least in terms of pacing and visual style. Director Mohammad Reza Aslani is exact in the most minute details of his film, particularly when it comes to the ritual of things. You cannot help but be impressed in the way he presents the preparation of a meal, the preparation of an evening prayer session, the lighting of the candles on a chandelier, or the exact details of loading a pistol. While this representation of details means the pacing is slow, it is never boring, as it instead heightens the tension of each moment that is prepared or puts an importance on an certain object. Aslani's attention to detail also extends to both the costume and sets of his film, not to mention the pace and tone of his film. It is almost hard to believe that this is Aslani's directorial debut with the assured confidence he shows in every frame of this film. He always feels in total control of both the story, and style of his film.
The film starts in a slow and unassuming fashion as the basic plot is laid out. It opens with a quote from the Quran about the dangers of greed and how pitting oneself against others for the main intent of increased wealth, will only end in tragedy. The plot builds very slowly early on, with the style of the film matching that pace. The camera is relatively still, and there is no music at all. The characters are introduced and their motives in the plot are exposed. For all intents and purposes it appears we are watching a chamber piece about the dangers of greed. However, at the thirty five minute mark, the film totally changes and what was once a moody drama, suddenly explodes into a full on suspense film that Alfred Hitchcock would be proud of. The once still camera now starts gliding in long smooth shots, as atmospheric music announces the new life or death tensions of the plot. A huge smile came across my face when I suddenly realised that I was watching a film with B-movie plot mechanics, but presented in a prestige film style. Like I said before, this was unlike any Iranian film I had seen before, but I loved every second. What started as a slow but impressive drama, quickly changed gears and became a thriller filled with madness, manipulation, murder, suspense with a little eroticism thrown in for good measure too. In between all of this, we are also witness to repeated scenes of the servants of the house doing the washing in the outside fountain, as the maids gossip about their bosses and talk about how poorly they are treated. These scenes are always shot in the exact way with the camera starting wide in a long shot and then very slowly zooming in on the maids while they work.
As you may have guessed by now, the cinematography in “Chess of the Wind”, by Houshang Baharlou, is absolutely sensational, in both terms of lighting and camerawork. The film is shot with a very warm colour pallet which brings across the look that the house is lit only by candlelight. The framing of shots, especially early on when the camera is still, makes each image look like a painting. However where I fell in love was with the long and incredibly difficult camera moves during the film's finale. The finale twenty minutes of “Chess of the Wind” are astounding, and include two mind boggling shots. Both involve the multilevel staircase of the house, with the first one following our crippled heroine as she attempts to descend the stairs, with the camera following her every step until she makes it to the basement. My mouth was agape at this camera move, as it was as good as anything I had seen in a Brian de Palma film.
Since I brought up the staircase in, I want to briefly talk about it some more, as it is probably the most import part of the set in this film. Firstly from a design standpoint, it is something to behold, as it works in a horse-shoe fashion with stairs on either side, and at the top of each staircase is a large, lengthy mirror, that gives the illusion that the house is bigger than it is and goes on forever. Our wheelchair bound main character lives on the upper levels of the house, which adds to the suspense later on when she essentially finds herself trapped on that level because of her chair. Also we notice that most of the scheming or important conversations or confrontings happen on this staircase, often near the bottom, and I have no doubt this is symbolic with director Aslani showing visually how these men are trying to climb the social ladder through money. As everybody knows, staircases are also wonderful to photograph and build suspense around and Aslani gets the most out of his set here.
I have mentioned a number of times that “Chess of the Wind” is unlike any Iranian film I had seen previous, and this is particularly true when it comes to content. The fact that the film is anchored by two very strong women, and openly criticises a male-run society and with it explores themes on women's rights, it was certainly not of the norm. The biggest shock in the film (for me at least) though was the very obvious lesbian love scene between the woman and her maid (who is incidentally played by Shohreh Aghdashloo in her screen debut). While chaste compared to anything we see in today's movies in the West, there is no doubt what is happening on screen, and its inclusion probably was the main reason that saw the film ended up being banned.
Overall, my mind was blown by “Chess of the Wind”; it truly is a lost masterpiece of Iranian cinema. The assuredness in Mohammad Reza Aslani's direction is something to behold especially when you consider it was his feature film debut. I cannot say enough about how amazing this film is; it is worth all the superlatives you can think of. I also think it would make a great film for those interested in trying out Iranian cinema that as yet have not, as at the end of the day (at least on a surface level), the film is an exquisitely put together suspense film filled with murder and madness. I loved “Chess of the Wind” so much, and once again an Iranian film was my favourite film at MIFF. I am hugely disappointed that I did not get to see this on the big screen like originally planned, but if you ever get the chance to, do not hesitate at all. I promise that you will not be disappointed.
4.5 Stars.
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