Stop me if you have heard this before: I am a massive fan of Iranian films, and do everything in my power to see any that play at MIFF, because it is very rare that I watch one that I dislike. Very rare, it may be, but not impossible, as I thought director Saeed Roustaee's fourth feature “Woman and Child” was absolutely dreadful. It is so overdone and overwrought, but worse, the whole thing rarely rings true.
Whilst the initial set-up of “Woman and Child” starts off well enough, as we watch a divorced, single mother of two children, trying to navigate around societal and family expectations in her attempt to re-marry the man she thinks is the love of her life, it goes downhill quickly soon after thanks to some very unlikable characters followed by some very unrealistic situations. I was immediately turned off by the film as soon as we spent time with Mahnaz's teenage son Aliyar who was an absolute brat and so disrespectful to everyone else around him, and who then had the gall to call “foul” whenever he is pulled up on his behaviour. He is a lazy, self-entitled little shit, and was the most unlikable character I have seen in a film for a very long time. While I understand it is a mother's duty to protect and believe her son, I could not believe Mahnaz's attitude in defending Aliyar's actions when he is expelled from school over a series of misdemeanours, claiming that her son had been targeted. By not taking Aliyar's actions seriously, and seeing what he was really getting up to, Mahnaz emboldens the boy to see just how far he can push it before she will react. I hated Aliyar so much, that I will admit that I was glad when the boy died (sorry for the spoiler, but it is early in the film) and he was out of the picture, but unfortunately “Woman and Child” still continued to get worse.
One of the reasons I love Iranian films so much is because they all seem to come from a place of truth, and even if you do not understand the politics or restrictions of Iran, you can sense the reality of the films that come out of the country. This could not be further from the truth though when it comes to “Woman and Child” which doesn't have a genuine emotion throughout the entire film, as everything feels so processed and fake, in such a way that writer/director Saeed Roustaee has created the drama in his film to manipulate the audience to feel for his characters. However because it does not come from a basis of reality, it works against the film, as I very quickly stopped caring for his character's plight. Everything is so heightened in “Woman and Child” that it falls into melodrama, worse actually, it feels more like a television soap opera. Every fifteen minutes or so, something else happens to Mahnaz that makes her life even more sadder, but after awhile it just feels so ridiculous because all these things would never happen to a person within the time that this film takes place. Also the way Mahnaz reacts to the things happening in her life border on the idiotic, which is why it is easy for me to say that this film is not a truthful representation of grief. When her son dies, Mahnaz tries to find reasons to blame anyone else for the situation (no matter how small), but never once looks inside at her own parenting or at her son's behaviour that may have contributed to his death. When she goes to the school and demands that the teacher that expelled Aliyar be fired, because he died whilst he was expelled, I could not believe it. I thought surely Roustaee can not expect us to think any rational woman would behave like this?!? No one would ever behave like this, no matter how hurt they may be! But the whole film is full of characters doing things that make no sense in the real world. Another instance, much later in the film is when her pregnant sister, Mehri, tells Mahnaz that she is going to name her son Aliyar, in honour of her late nephew, Mahnaz asks her to please not do that because by using the same name, it will feel like her son is being replaced. Her sister understands and says she will not do this anymore......Liar!!!! That is exactly what she does! But why????? It makes no sense; no sister would ever do that after being asked not to. Aaarrggghhhh!!! This movie did my head in!
“Woman and Child” has also been very arrogantly directed by Saeed Roustaee, using big sweeping camera moves during small intimate moments, in a manner that screams “Look at me! Look at the camerawork!! Aren't I clever?!?”. It is rare to find a subtle moment in the film, although I will admit there was one moment that I loved. It was a shot from the balcony of the two sister's rooms, after they have had a long, and unhappy discussion. Both rooms are lit, although each room has a different colour temperature with Mahnaz's room using warm light, and Mehri's room having cool light, with both girls looking miserable in silhouette. This was both my favourite moment and shot in all of “Woman and Child”, because it was a moment that felt real. The rest of the film has been shot in such a way to make it feel “big”, which works against the film, because it would've been so much more powerful if Roustaee went smaller and intimate.
To no surprise to anyone reading this review, “Woman and Child” also sees everyone overacting throughout the entire film. Even a brilliant actor like Payman Maadi (who is sensational in Asghar Farhadi's “A Separation”; one of the greatest Iranian films ever made) falls into the trap of over-emoting whilst playing Hamid, particularly in the overwrought second half of the film. Our lead actress, Parinaz Izadyer (who starts off the film pretty good before the tragedy to her character hits) who plays Mahnaz, has a bad habit of opening her big eyes wide to express every and all emotion, from pain, anger, frustration....it's always the same, eyes wide open, looking shocked. Throughout the whole film, there were only two actors in “Woman and Child” that I thought gave good performances, grounded in reality (man, I am really beating that dead horse, aren't I?) and that was Maziar Seyedi who plays Samkhanian, the teacher who expels Aliyar, and Fereshteh Sadre Orafaiy who plays Mahnaz's mother, but I will say her character also does some idiotic things in the film too.
Overall, if you cannot tell already, I was not a huge fan of Saeed Roustaee's “Woman and Child”, and would confidently say it is the worst Iranian film I have seen in a very long time. It is overwrought and overlong, has been arrogantly directed and almost everyone in the film overacts. My biggest issue with it though is that it never once felt real, rather it felt closer to the melodrama you would normally find in a bad television soap opera. This is not a true representation of grief, and because of that it almost feels exploitative in the way Roustaee uses grief in his film to try and garner unearned emotion from his audience. I will say though, the final scene isn't too bad, and the little girl who plays Mahnaz's daughter is super cute, but other than that, there isn't a whole lot of positives I have for “Woman and Child”.
2 Stars.
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