THE SALESMAN

Tehran: Emad (Shahab Hosseini) and Rana (Taraneh Alidoosti), a young married couple, both teachers, are performing Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” with their theatre group. When building work on the neighbouring building makes their home uninhabitable, they move into a flat in the centre – and an incident connected to the previous tenant changes their lives. One evening, Rana is attacked there by an intruder. She wants no police involved; Emad begins investigating on his own, finds the keys and car left behind by the attacker – and sets out on a path along which justice and revenge are hard to tell apart. “The Salesman” (“Forushande”, 2016) by the Iranian Asghar Farhadi is a precisely observed drama about moral responsibility.

Asghar Farhadi of Iran interweaves the stage with everyday life: what the couple negotiate in the play at night catches up with them during the day, and the question of who owes whom an account remains open until the end. In Cannes the film won the awards for best screenplay and for Shahab Hosseini as best actor in 2016; the Academy Award for best foreign language film followed in 2017. “The Salesman” opened the festival at Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin in 2016 as the Opening Night film.

Shown at the 2016 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.

All films 2016 · Film Archive