New from celebrated Iranian auteur Asghar Farhadi is The Salesman, which screened in Competition at Cannes, winning awards for Best Screenplay and Best Actor (for male lead Shahab Hosseini).
It covers similar territory to Farhadi’s last two films, the acclaimed A Separation (2011) and The Past (2013), examining as it does the strained relationship between a middle-class married couple, Rana (Taraneh Alidoosti, a long-time collaborator with Farhadi) and Emad (Hosseini).
Emad is a teacher and Rana his stay-at-home wife. In their spare time, they’re also part of a theatre group, working on a production of Arthur Miller’s ‘Death of a Salesman’ in which they play Miller’s careworn Willy Loman and his wife, Linda. Preparations for the play are going well until Rana and Emad suffer a disturbing domestic incident; which triggers emotional fault lines across their marriage.
Exploring challenging questions of morality and retribution, The Salesman is beautifully observed, painstakingly crafted and with the strong critical support it will undoubtedly receive, sure to prove another arthouse hit for Farhadi.
