Dir.: Dariush Mehrjui; Script: Dariush Mehrjui D'après la nouvelle de/Based on the short story by: Mahnaz Ansarian; Phot.: Mahmud Klari; Ed.: Mostafa Kherqepush; Mus.: Keivan Jahanshahi; Cast: Leila Hatami, Ali Mosaffa, Jamileh Sheikhi, Mohammad Reza Sharifinia, Turan Mehrzad, Amir Pievar, Vahide Mohammadi, Shaqayeq Farahani, Parisa Zarei, Faraj Balakfan; Prod. & Sales: Dariush Mehrjui, Faramarz Farazmand, Farabi Cinema Foundation, 55, Sie-Tir Avenue, Téhéran 11358 (Iran), tél.: (21) 67 10 10, fax: (21) 67 81 55.

Leila is married to the man she loves dearly but discovers that she can never have a child of her own. Her husband Reza isn't terribly troubled by the matter and is convinced that their life together will be happy enough even without children. Reza's mother, however, an autocratic woman who has four daughters and a single son, isn't satisfied. She makes Leila consent to Reza's taking a second wife. Racked by guilt over her infertility, Leila is now subjected to the humiliation of accepting another woman into her private world of love.A leading figure in contemporary Iranian cinema, Dariush Mehrjui was born in Tehran in 1940 and graduated in philosophy and filmmaking from U.C.L.A before returning to Iran in 1965 to begin his career as a journalist and TV scriptwriter. He made his directing debut in 1967 with a James Bond spoof, DIAMOND 33, but first came to international attention with THE COW (1970), a film that signalled the coming of age of Iranian cinema. His subsequent films include: MR. SIMPLETON (1971), THE POSTMAN (1973), THE CYCLE (1979), THE SCHOOL WE WENT TO (1981), JOURNAY TO THE LAND OF RIMBAUD (1984), LODGERS (1987), SHIRAK (1989), HAMOON (1990), BANOO (1992), SARA (1993), PARI (1995) and The PEAR TREE (1998).
 

A fourth in a series of films about women (Banoo, 1992; Sara, 1994; Pari, 1995). A clever if flawed subversion of the Iranian melodrama, it provides a barbed commentary on Iran's emerging post-Revolutionary nouveau riche and a glimpse into the angst of Tehran's upper-middle class.
 When a 'yuppie' wife, Leila, finds that she can't have children, her pushy mother-in-law forces her son to take a second wife. Though Leila's surroundings - a suburban bungalow with all the mod cons - are thoroughly modern, she is powerless to resist the force of tradition . Most Iranians were offended by the film, claiming it wasn't realistic.