«The customer»

Cinema Wednesdays - Loris S. Musumeci

The building is shaking and cracking all over. It must be evacuated. Emad, dignified and responsible, leads Rana—his wife, who is panicking like any other woman—outside.

Tehran is undergoing a major transformation. The old buildings are crumbling, making way for a new city—concrete, drab, and modern.

Asghar Farhadi sets his latest film against the backdrop of a changing Iran, The Salesman. This backdrop is present throughout the film as it tells the dark and painful story of the main couple.

Emad is a teacher and an actor. Rana, meanwhile, works with her husband at the theater—also as an actress. Interwoven with their personal story, the play they are preparing with their troupe unfolds in scenes: Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. This theme runs through every element of the main plot, which, ultimately, remains very simple and mundane. The couple, forced to find a new place to live, move into an apartment that a friend rents in downtown Tehran. It turns out, however, that the place has a somewhat murky past. It was previously occupied by a prostitute who has just moved out. One evening, while Emad is still out, Rana is raped in her own home by a client who used to visit the woman «of loose morals.» From that moment on, the story’s true turmoil begins. Rana is afraid to stay home alone; Emad feels his honor as a husband has been trampled upon and wounded. As the days go by, she gradually regains her composure and moves on; he, on the other hand, becomes increasingly obsessed with finding this «client» to punish him for his evil deed.

The drama here is overwhelmingly psychological and moral—perhaps to a fault. Watching the film does indeed become a heavy experience as Emad’s search unfolds. The camera movements are too slow, the dialogue too subdued, and the facial expressions too expressive.

Farhadi won an award at Cannes for his screenplay, and it’s well deserved; the dialogue is precise, clear, and measured. On the other hand, the fact that Shahab Hosseini, who plays Emad, received the Best Actor award strikes me as misplaced. He does act well, but too well. And that’s the problem. His performance is that of a polished, polished, and refined stage actor, not a film actor. His melodramatic style is perplexing, in that it’s unclear where he’s going with it. The incessant and repetitive hesitations then give the viewer plenty of time to get bored.

Nevertheless, a literary adaptation of the film—whether as a novel or a play—would undoubtedly be a great success, given the richness of the screenplay. The themes explored are of paramount importance for understanding the role of all-powerful morality in a Muslim society. The feminist aspect of the Client It also conveys a genuine message of reason to Eastern audiences. The man impulsively seeks revenge, while the woman soothes and forgives, even if it means going against her husband. «You’re seeking revenge. » Serious and cryptic, this rebuke from Rana to her husband remains the most striking line in the film. Revenge kills. It infects the wound without healing anything.”.

While Farhadi’s new film, currently in theaters, is recommended for discerning film buffs and scholars of the Middle East due to its documentary-style approach, it is not suited for Western audiences, who—since the end of silent film—have become accustomed to a clear distinction between theater and cinema, which stands on its own as an independent art form with intrinsic value.

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Photo credit: AlloCiné