Chronicles of Tehran: a major political film (review)
A sketch film with a relentless mechanism acutely shows the violence and absurdity of power relations in Iran. A gesture of tremendous power.
A still shot suspended above Tehran. A shot that lasts long enough to allow our gaze to scan the space, to capture the murmur of the city which grows as the city wakes up. In slight suspension therefore, at an unreachable height, protected from chaos. The device that is then put in place brings us closer to the faces but in an equally demiurgic position. The camera is intended to be subjective in the idea of a permanent face to face between these nine men and women whose misadventures we will hear and see. Nine, for as many sketches, reflecting the violence of relationships in today's Iranian society where the administration seeks to control souls and consciences.
An Iranian-style comedy as Italian was once written. A man wants to register the first name of his newly born child and is ordered to find a first name that complies with the laws of the country, another, who has come to get his driving license reveals his tattoos to an officer in an intolerable exposure. The duo of filmmakers places us on the side of an evil that we cannot see. The gesture is relentless. In each of his situations bestiality insinuates itself head-on. In the land of the mullahs, no one apologizes for being what they are. The most terrible takes the form of a job interview where a young woman undergoes a flirting exercise whose heaviness is unfortunately universal. In the end, the city collapses from so much nonsense. Cinema allows that. Powerful chronicles.
By Ali Asgari and Alireza Khatami. With Bahram Ark, Arghavan Shabani, Servin Zabetian… Duration 1h17. Released March 13, 2024
