Once we get past the shadow of the shadow aspect of the film, what sort of story or stories lies beneath.
There is a sort of "love story" but it had zero chemistry for me, indeed it's dominant aspect was a sort of oppression. Hossein's wooing of Tahereh, in my eyes at least, lacked even a hint of frisson. The balcony scene is perhaps pivotal, and maybe I missed a key element (that she drunk the tea when he was gone). Instead all I could rely on was Hossein's recalling eye-contact with Tahereh before the earthquake.
There is also the oppression of the film-maker, despite the fact that it is his film (well the film within the film after the film). But from forcing Tahereh to wear a "peasant dress" (yes I am limited by an English translation, I suspect the Farsi phrase might have been less class-critical.
A misguided modern take could be that this film is a subtle call for women's rights in Iran, but i know that is not the case. I do think something about the countryside is what Kiarostami wanted to capture, but it gets eclipsed for me by the movie-mirroring-movie aspect. At one point we have all three Kiarostami's in one shot...
As a movie mediating upon cinema it can be though provoking, but for the actual story within this miles away from the Friend's House for me.
There is a sort of "love story" but it had zero chemistry for me, indeed it's dominant aspect was a sort of oppression. Hossein's wooing of Tahereh, in my eyes at least, lacked even a hint of frisson. The balcony scene is perhaps pivotal, and maybe I missed a key element (that she drunk the tea when he was gone). Instead all I could rely on was Hossein's recalling eye-contact with Tahereh before the earthquake.
There is also the oppression of the film-maker, despite the fact that it is his film (well the film within the film after the film). But from forcing Tahereh to wear a "peasant dress" (yes I am limited by an English translation, I suspect the Farsi phrase might have been less class-critical.
A misguided modern take could be that this film is a subtle call for women's rights in Iran, but i know that is not the case. I do think something about the countryside is what Kiarostami wanted to capture, but it gets eclipsed for me by the movie-mirroring-movie aspect. At one point we have all three Kiarostami's in one shot...
As a movie mediating upon cinema it can be though provoking, but for the actual story within this miles away from the Friend's House for me.