User reviews

A young intelligent Iranian woman prepares herself for the next phase in life, and that is to escape the political and social boundaries around her put up by the authorities of her country. Director Rasoulof was brave enough to tell this story because he himself was attempting to do the same thing, but ended up in prison for showing the hardships of life in a tyranny religious country.

The beauty of this slow moving film is that it doesn't state the obvious by ramming dramatic scenes down your throat. The story unravels a thin layer at a time, with scenes that have no more than a few shots, and sometimes only one lingering shot. This allows the viewer to observe the protagonist and the lonely fight she has to combat. With patience, you begin to make an emotional connection, feeling every frustration and moral outrage.

Leyla Zareh is simply amazing to observe. The low lit photography of Arastoo Givi heightens Leyla's sad features, even more so when she wears the hijab (headscarf) slightly over her face, creating shadows on her angelic features.

An interesting film showing the plight of the Iranian people who go about their lives, trying to make sense of it all.

more than a movie, it is a manifesto. not only about Iranian realities but about search of sense of many people. in same measure, it is a picture of a society , a manner not for protest but for define rules of a world. a woman and her fight for escape from a dark circle. a bitter , cruel, maybe too honest movie, analysis of a decision growing-up, it is mixture of minimalist tools , cold colors, politic and bureaucracy, slices of modern theater play and inspired definition for solitude. a film like a manifesto. or a form of mute cry. all around a turtle and its escape, with a powerful last scene, remarkable for wise performance of Leyla Zareh.

Unsatisfactory as dramatic entertainment but engrossing and significant as a protest film comment on Iranian society, made after Rasouloff's arrest and bail and contemporary with fellow condemned director Panahi's THIS IS NOT A FILM.

Lawyer Zareh is trying to manage a permit for her to leave the country. With the police suspicious of her connection to her allegedly subversive husband, whose absence complicates her legal status, this takes her though fraught dealings with contacts like the fixer, officials and acquaintances, who all have opinions on her plan.

Odd scenes get attention - the mother sitting unawares through the single take police search of the small flat.

Audiences react to the Iranian saying "If one feels like a foreigner in one's one country, it is better to leave and be a foreigner in a foreign country."

Subdued colour, minimal editing, plausible setting and performances.