Movie: Dayeraeh- The Circle

Actors: Mariam Parvin Almani, Nargess Mamizadeh, Fereshteh Sadr Orfani
Director: Jafar Panahi, Producer:

The hype regarding Irani cinema is more than just that, as is proven by Jafar Panahi’s ‘Dayeraeh- The Circle.’

Based in Tehran, The Circle traces in a circle of events, the life of women in post revolution Iran. Director of critically acclaimed The Friend (Doust, 1992) and The White Balloon (Badkonak-e Sefid, 1994) which won an award at the Cannes Film Festival, Jafar Panahi has worked as assistant director with world class producer Abbas Kiarostami. And it shows. With strong Anti-revolutionary sentiments that most acclaimed Irani films possess, The Circle marvelously manages to take no sides. The beginning heralds a woman in labor who gives birth to a girl. Absolute fear takes hold of the new mother’s family at the thought of a girl child and their son-in-law’s volatile reaction. ‘They will want a divorce.’ Simple, but not so simple. It is only later in the movie that one might understand that the birth took place within a prison hospital.

Following closely on the heels of this is the story of 3 young women who too, have just been let out of prison. Anxious to make phone calls home, one of them is swiftly rearrested while the other two, played superbly by Mariam Parvin Almani and Nargess Mamizadeh, walk round and round their own circles. Aarezou (Mariam Parvin Almani) is shown getting money for Nargess’s (Nargess Mamizadeh) bus fare by disappearing into a room at a shady factory; she herself will not go home to see her son ‘I don’t know if they will want me anymore.’ Nargess too is unable to get to her destination for a woman traveling alone is a taboo in the situation presented. Strongly critical of the state of affairs, Panahi manages to do so without holding any one person or authority responsible.

The movie remains vague and the viewer is given very few apparent clues about the past of the women. We never find out why those women ended up in jail. Long waits and shots of characters wandering all over the city are exasperating. As a result, the viewer gets a taste of the frustration these women go through to secure themselves. Hints and symbols give different audiences different readings of the situation. That then, is the beauty of the movie- not overtly abstract nor heavily judgmental about Iran as it exists, the director lets the characters communicate his point. And everyone will have a whole story that explains the parts that are unexplained. With no emotional, tear-inducing attempts, the director Panahi appears to be appealing to the intellectual side of the audience.

Says this award winning director about the movie and the feminist interpretation given to it, ‘The purpose of this film was not to be against men or to be a feminist film—it`s a film about humanity. Men and women are part of humanity.’ Yet, gender related questions will pop into minds as the film progresses. What justifies this vicious circle women must live within? Why is it that all women must travel the same path and if one is replaced, the other will be on the exact same path in the sphere? As Nargess wanders the tiny alleys of Iran looking for another cellmate Pari (Fereshteh Sadr Orfani) let out on the same day, she reaches just in time to see her being kicked out of the house by angry brothers due to her pregnancy, making a strong and ugly point.

The most interesting aspect of the film is its structurization. The opening scene where a girl child causes much foreboding doom, is a question. Why such unhappiness and fear at the thought of a baby girl? The rest of the film, is an explanation. While the director claims to not be making any feminist statements, the film appears to have only one agenda- to point out how women worldwide are deeply imprisoned in a circle it is impossible to break out of. Says Panahi, “I hope that if this film has any kind of effect on anyone, it would be to make them try to expand the size of the radius of that circle.”

The Circle speaks brilliantly for the intelligence Iran as a society retains in the face of an oppressive State that remains hostile to criticism. Not only women in Iran- as is the case with all good art, this film applies to women worldwide and speaks very well for a rapidly evolving Irani cinema.

Previously published in DAWN