The first part of this movie was absolutely hilarious. An Iranian poet/philosopher/doctor sits at his desk and struggles with writer's block. Instead of thinking of things to write, he thinks about how much writing he needs to get done and how, if he approaches it like a workhorse, he'll have 1000 pages of obvious brilliance within the year. Meanwhile, he's not getting any work done at all and the gardener keeps pestering him about the pear tree not blossoming, which the gardener, a spiritual person, takes as a personal offense. The poet listens to the gardener and finally the conversation draws the poet into reminiscence of his childhood. Which is where the movie gets slightly less interesting.
I preferred the framing device. But at any rate, the poet remembers his youth, the girl he always loved and the ways she teased, adored, and manipulated him, and the wide eyed hope and faith he had. Of course, much of these memories ultimately end up with the artist as a young man in the same aforementioned pear tree, having to be coerced down by the village elders. However, Dariush Mehrjui is smart enough to not draw attention to that and just lets it be as its own image. The way the boy's memory is covered with a warm golden tinge, and at some times enters the surreal, makes the movie a visual feast in its own right (especially the feast scene), but eventually I just found myself wishing to get back to the pretentious poet. I don't know why, but that was more interesting to me than a tale of the girl next door moving away, even if it was an Iranian variant of it.
Eventually the point is made that the poet, and thus Iran, has lost its way--the girl's move was not just bad luck but representative of the times, the Iranian philosopher representative of the upper class has forgotten his own pear tree roots, and some recognition and remembrance of the past is required for that pear tree to blossom. I don't know, I just liked the philosopher willfully ignoring the gardener providing him the answers he needed in the first act.
--PolarisDiB
I preferred the framing device. But at any rate, the poet remembers his youth, the girl he always loved and the ways she teased, adored, and manipulated him, and the wide eyed hope and faith he had. Of course, much of these memories ultimately end up with the artist as a young man in the same aforementioned pear tree, having to be coerced down by the village elders. However, Dariush Mehrjui is smart enough to not draw attention to that and just lets it be as its own image. The way the boy's memory is covered with a warm golden tinge, and at some times enters the surreal, makes the movie a visual feast in its own right (especially the feast scene), but eventually I just found myself wishing to get back to the pretentious poet. I don't know why, but that was more interesting to me than a tale of the girl next door moving away, even if it was an Iranian variant of it.
Eventually the point is made that the poet, and thus Iran, has lost its way--the girl's move was not just bad luck but representative of the times, the Iranian philosopher representative of the upper class has forgotten his own pear tree roots, and some recognition and remembrance of the past is required for that pear tree to blossom. I don't know, I just liked the philosopher willfully ignoring the gardener providing him the answers he needed in the first act.
--PolarisDiB