Variety
Few Iranian films have tried to realistically depict
both the urban middle and lower classes, and fewer still with the complexity of
story telling and depth of characterization in Asghar Farhadi’s impressive
third feature, “Fireworks Wednesday.”
Co-scripted by Farhadi with director Mani Haghighi (“Men at Work”), this
beautifully paced drama about marital infidelity, seen through the eyes of a
young housemaid about to get married, is psychologically intricate and
dramatically engrossing. It could prove a break-through film for Farhadi, whose
“Dance in the Dust” and “Beautiful City” have prepared the way to international
arthouse auds.
As this sophisticated work demonstrates, Iranian
cinema has matured into far different genres than the quasi-documentaries about
children and movie-making for which it is widely known. Though not overtly
concerned with social issues, “Fireworks Wednesday” breathes the class gap in
Iranian society into almost every upstairs/downstairs scene, with an unexpected
ending that reinforces the divide.
Title refers to the Iranian New Year’s holiday,
Chahar Shanbeh Suri, when tradition calls for people to hide behind walls and
listen to passing conversations that are supposed to reveal whether their
wishes will come true. The film, set on the previous day, is less about wishing
than spying.
While middle-class families prepare to leave for the
holidays, for the working class it’s business as usual. Rouhi (Taraneh
Alidoosti, the young star of “I’m Taraneh, 15″) gets a ride on her fiance’s
motorbike to work as a temp maid.
The moment she sets foot in the spacious modern
apartment of Morteza (Hamid Farrokhnezhad) and his wife Mojdeh (Hadieh
Tehrani), she finds herself swept up into a maelstrom of chaos and anger. The
place is upside down, and Morteza has a bandaged hand from breaking a window
the night before in an argument with his wife. Mojdeh is sure he’s having an
affair with the divorced beautician next door, Mrs. Simi (Pantea Bahram), and
spends a lot of time in the bathroom with her ear pressed against the wall,
trying to overhear something incriminating.
She sends Rouhi over to have her eyebrows plucked and
spy for her.
Just when the story seems settled, however, the
surprises begin. Morteza offers to drive Rouhi home, but first he must take his
young son to watch fireworks in a park. At this point, the script pulls a major
twist out of its hat, deepening the drama and the oddly intertwined
relationship between the maid and her employers.
Farhadi, who has written and directed numerous stage
plays, pulls edgy, morally nuanced perfs out of Tehrani (one of Iran’s biggest
film stars) as the self-centered, neurotic wife, and Farrokhnezhad as her
fist-happy mate. Both cove a repressed violence that threatens everyone around
them.
Humble but dignified, Alidoosti, who seems to develop
with each new film, offers a sane counterpoint to this family out of hell.
Bahram delivers an equally complex perf as the other woman.
The quality of the production is evident in Hossein
Jafarian’s fluid cinematography and Hayedeh Safyari’s nervous editing. The
final scenes are a tour de force in which the bonfire-strewn streets fill with
merrymakers and the exploding fireworks look as dangerous as a war, an apt
metaphor for the everyday violence in the characters’ lives.
http://variety.com/2006/film/reviews/fireworks-wednesday-1200518706/
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