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Sara
Iran 1993
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Director: Dariush Mahrjui
Screenplay: Dariush Mehrjui, adapted from
Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House
Cinematography: Mahmud Kalari
Editing: Hassan Hassandust
Music: -
Sound: Asghar Shahverdi, Sasan Nakhai
Art Director: Faryar Javaherian
Cast: Niki karimi, Amin Tarokh, Khorso Shakibai, Yassaman
Malek-Nasr
Producer: Hashem Sayfi, Dariush Mehrjui
Production: Farabi Cinema Foundation,
55 Sie-Tir Avenue, Tehran 11358, Iran, tel.: 98.21.671 010, fax:
98.21.678 155
World Sales: Farabi Cinema Foundation,
55 Sie-Tir Avenue, Tehran 11358, Iran, tel.: 98.21.671 010, fax:
98.21.678 155
35mm, Colour:CL, Length:102'
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To pay for her husband's medical treatment abroard, Sara alleges
that she has received money from her father. But in reality, she
is secretely trying to pay her own debts by doing sewing jobs.
When she later asks her husband, who is a bank manager, to help
discharge the man who has illegally helped her raise money, he
not only refuses, but accuses her of forgery and tells her she
isn't worhty of living with her family. Heartbroken by this
cruel treatment, Sara leaves her home...
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Adapting Ibsen's A Doll's House to contemporary Iran, with its manifest legal
and social constraints for women, has a particular resonance for director
Mehrjui. But Mehrjui goes even further to fashion a thoughtful and complex
portrait of a middle-class Iranian marriage whose comforts do not satisfy
human needs. Sara is a happy, traditional young housewife. When her husband,
a bank manager, requires emergency medical treatment abroad, she secures the
financing via a secret loan, forged in her father's name. Her husband, whose
life is saved, thinks the money came from her inheritance and does not
realize she is laboring over embroidered wedding dresses to repay a debt
that if he knew existed, could not, ironically, tolerate. When the
inevitable happens, she comes to see the reality of her existence for the
first time. A richly observed portrait of everyday life as it is lived in
thousands of ordinary households in modern Tehran, Sara was awarded the Best
Film Prize at the San Sebastian Film Festival with Niki Karimi winning the
Best Actress prize for her excellent performance.
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