Inversion

Behnam Behzadi’s feminist drama is set in a smog-filled, traffic-choked Tehran. Air pollution is a plot device as well as a metaphor: it leaves the elderly Mahin (Shirin Yazdanbakhsh) stricken with pulmonary disease. When she’s ordered to move out of the city for less polluted climes, it’s clear that one of her children will have to move with her. Brother Farhad (Ali Mosaffa) and sister Homa (Roya Javidnia) are both married, and they quickly settle on the third child to step up. After all, Niloofar (Sahar Dowlatshahi) is single—why can’t she be the one to go?

This is the struggle at the heart of the film: Niloofar is torn between an obligation to her mother and her own rights as a woman. The drama grows more intense with each plot turn, each angry confrontation, as this very brave woman tries to honour both her family and herself. Dowlatshahi is a beautiful, compelling presence onscreen; watching her you may feel protective, even afraid, as she moves through a minefield of sexism. Behzadi has fashioned a tribute to women’s courage, and in his lead actress he’s found the perfect figure to represent it.

“Quietly dramatic…Sahar Dowlatshahi is a beautiful and dynamic actress with an open, laughing face and darkly expressive doe eyes that have a way of dominating every shot they’re in.”—Owen Gleiberman, Variety