Cafe Setareh

This movie is special because it brings out beautifully the ordinary lives in a culture that is more than two thousand years old.

The movie is based on three women characters living in a poor neighborhood in Tehran. Moghadam does an excellent job of telling a story that follows the lives of these three women.

Fariba runs cafe Setareh and her husband who is a drug-addict lives off her earnings. The local car mechanic, Ebi is a good friend of Fariba's brother Khosro, and is in love with Saloomeh, a beautiful young woman who lives alone with her blind father. Molook who is Saloomeh's friend and landlady has feelings for Khosro.

The movie is divided into three parts and each parts unfolds the tragedies that bind the lives of these three women. Music is familiar and yet poignant.

"Cafe Setareh" is the first Saman Moghadam movie that I've seen, although it sounds as though Moghadam is a major figure in Iranian cinema. The movie focuses on three women in a dismal neighborhood of Iran, how they interact with each other, and how they relate to those in their immediate surroundings (such as a drug-addicted husband).

A lot of Iranian movies deal with what it's like to be a woman in Iran. Obviously a lot of restraints got put on women's roles after the establishment of the Islamic Republic (and don't forget that the revolution only came about in response to the US-backed shah's brutality). Social stratification is another major topic in Iranian cinema, whether among its citizens or among foreign refugees (such as in Majid Majidi's "Baran"). Whatever the case, this is an impressive piece of work, if not particularly eye-catching. It doesn't appear to be available on any streaming service, so you'll have to check your local video store.

Saman Moghadam, director of Cafe Setareh (Star Cafe) is one of the most commercially successful of directors currently working in Iran. His films, up to now, have mostly been lightweight affairs mainly aimed at the younger generation. With Cafe Setareh, however, Moghadam has changed course, going for a much more serious and mature subject, perhaps to gain more recognition and credibility as a serious film maker. To this end, he has succeeded admirably. Cafe Setareh is a very satisfying film which has proved both a critical and commercial success.

The movie is divided into three parts, each revolving around a different female character. The lives of these characters, however, are intertwined, with the underlying theme being the current favourite theme in many Iranian movies: what it is like to be a woman in today's Iran.

Fariba (Afsaneh Bayegan) runs a café while looking after her old mother, unemployed younger brother and her husband, a petty criminal. Saloumeh (Hanieh Tavasoli) occasionally helps Fariba with her book keeping and is looking for a way out of her lonely life with her blind father. The best way out to her, appears to be marriage to the young mechanic living next door. Molouk (Roya Teymourian) is Saloumeh's landlady. She's an old spinster forever falling in love with younger boys and dreaming of marrying one of them. An act of crime changes the lives of the these three women in different ways.

Many of the occurring events are repeated, each time from the perspective of a different character, a la Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. The performances of the three leading ladies are excellent. The direction is assured and the script is very inventive. Cafe Setareh firmly establishes Saman Moghadam as one of the leading Iranian directors and is a continuously intriguing and entertaining film. Highly recommended.