Few titles at Cannes carried greater weight than The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Mohammad Rasoulof’s first project to debut since an exile from his native Iran––little wonder in light of its focus on injustice and unrest as they reflect on the country’s women. Following a special award from the festival and pitstops in Toronto and New York, it’s set to begin a U.S. run on November 27, ahead of which is a trailer.
As David Katz said in our review, “My absolute trust in this film started to waver roughly around this moment, my impressed nodding crumpling into a ‘Really?’ facial expression. You may’ve accurately heard about car chases, but I should report that my Locarno audience genuinely laughed at the farcical nature of the blocking throughout the final act. But Rasoulof ultimately succeeds because he is at least one step ahead of us. The mere impact is palpable: that his movie stumbles from lucidity into ugly chaos and spontaneous fight-or-flight behaviors is right. A cool, all-seeing distance isn’t appropriate for dramatizing this moment in modern world history; we need to feel our ribs jolt, hopefully beckoning us to safety, before we can even think.”
Here’s the synopsis: “Shot entirely in secret, Mohammad Rasoulof’s award-winning thriller, The Seed of the Sacred Fig centers on a family thrust into the public eye when Iman is appointed as an investigating judge in Tehran. As political unrest erupts in the streets, Iman realizes that his job is even more dangerous than expected, making him increasingly paranoid and distrustful, even of his own wife Najmeh and daughters Sana and Rezvan.”
Find the preview below:
