Mourning (2011) User Reviews

Innovative Cinema

[sqwander100 · 7/10 · 20 October 2012]

I saw this film as part of the Iranian Film Festival in Sydney and discovered that this film was conceived as part of a workshop with the great director Abbas Kiarostami. This film shows the influence of Kiarostami but also has taken an original approach to film making.

Like many Iranian Films the film has a gentle pace, gives a prominent role to its setting and has at is core a riveting dramatic tale. The dialogue and characters are engrossing and unfold beautifully throughout the film.

The direction of the film is great. The use of sound in particular is superb and a real treat which is central to the film. I found myself enjoying the way the director has played with sound and created the sound world of the characters. I wont say anything more to ensure not giving away some of the suspense of the film.

The screenplay of the film is also superb. When a director uses countryside as the setting, often there is a tendency to romanticise the countryside, the rural setting, the people, etc etc (e.g. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia was a film seen recently which is a very romantic view of rural Turkey). This film avoids the romanticism and conveys a real sense of Iranian rural areas. It is stunning, but not without its realities of bad roads, bad drivers, isolation....

I thoroughly enjoyed this film, and recommend it.

The viewer as observer

[hof-4 · 8/10 · 7 June 2021]

The movie opens with a furious argument among the couple Nahid and Masoud, heard over a dark screen. They are visitors in the country house of Sharareh (Nahid's sister) and her husband Kamran. They storm out the house, and their car's headlights reveal for a moment a bedroom where Arshia, their preadolescent son, is unsuccessfully trying to sleep. Arshia, who seems to be no stranger to his parents' bickering finds refuge under the covers. The next scene is the morning after, and we learn that Nahid and Masoud have been killed in a car accident.

Sharareh and Kamran are both deaf. They communicate with each other using sign language, gestures and occasionally mouthing words so that the other can lipread. They also communicate with other people talking, although they have problems making themselves understood (this is humorously shown when Kamran is trying to get help for his stalled car). For the rest of the movie, besides some road incidents and contacts with policemen, repairmen and fellow travelers, we witness the interaction of the couple and Arshia. They drive him back to Tehran where he used to live with his parents. He faces an uncertain future, and the couple have not told him the truth. They discuss Arshia's options believing that he does not understand; in fact Arshia probably suspects the truth from the beginning, can decipher gestures and claims he can do a bit of lipreading. From the couple's conversations we get hints of their past and present problems and choices as well as of Sharareh's relationship with her sister.

Out of this outwardly meager material, director Morteza Farshbaf has assembled a minimalist masterpiece. There is no God's eye view; what we see is what we get, and the rest we imagine. We never see Nahid and Masoud, even in a photograph, or learn the details of their accident. There is a striking panoramic shot of Kamran's car driving on a dusty, winding country road, and we "hear" the couple's conversation in subtitles. The ending is open; nothing has been solved and even greater problems loom. Acting is first rate, and this movie seems to be the only credit for Sharareh Pasha (Sharareh). Kiomars Giti (Kamran) and Amir Hossein Maleki (Arshia). The script by Anahita Ghazvinizadeh is precise and spare, avoids excess sentimentality and carries forward the story at a steady pace. Cinematography by Hamid Ahmadi captures the feeling of rural Iran, both landscapes and people.

Iranian Great

[rgolay · 7/10 · 19 August 2021]

Another one of Iranian master use of amateur and child actors. The story line has been well reviewed by others so no need to repeat here. The film and story is well developed by few characters. As usual a much better ending than the standard feelgood Hollywood films. Again Iranian cinema surpasses.

Great , if you want to catch a few zzzz's in the cinema

[theghostofleifericson · 4/10 · 22 February 2012]

I went to see this as part of the Dublin Film Festival. It sounded good on paper so I was expecting good things. While , it is beautifully shot and shows the Iranian countryside in all its glory I found this movie to be incredibly boring . Nothing much happens and a lot of the characters are not developed fully. Most of the action takes place in the car in which they are travelling or along the road in the Iranian countryside. To be quite honest , only for I was in the middle of a row I would have left this film early as it nearly put me to sleep. I gave it a 4 and most of that was for the cinematography of the Iranian countryside. Avoid .