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diamonds wrote: Fri Dec 19, 2025 7:34 pm

Spoiler

I suppose the breakdown doesn't even have to be fully one or the other, i.e. the sob stories about his past and conscience are a ploy, but the desperate desire and pleas to see his newborn son are sincere. It's that crack in the exterior, that kernel of humanity that I think is important for Panahi or that he might feel he needs.

denti alligator wrote: Fri Jan 02, 2026 3:33 am I liked this a lot, but was confused about the setting. Why go out of your way to put unveiled female extras in a half dozen different shots in public places throughout the film? Early on I thought this must be some Iranian exile community; but then it became clear that it is definitely set in Tehran.

Jafar Panahi wrote:No one can give you words of advice. I only know my country; I don’t know [the United States]. I can only see the signs in your country. When a journalist comes to speak with me and in certain places brings their voice down because they’re afraid of eavesdropping or they’re afraid of tapping, we have seen those signs in our own country and we know where it’s going to lead to. I said this in my acceptance speech at TIFF. I said that I’m worried about the signs that I’m seeing. And I’m not seeing this only in the United States. I’m seeing it in many other places; it is only that it is unbelievable, unexpected in the United States.

I don’t know what the solution is. I think in our own country, we’re fighting against it. Our people, especially women, have found the way. Three years ago when the Women, Life, Freedom movement happened, it was a complete breakthrough and the history of Iran divided into before and after that movement. Women came out, they got beaten up, but they still put their scarves on fire. They burned their scarves. They shot many directly in the eye and they blinded them intentionally. And yet the next day, we saw the same women were out fighting on the street. And now you see a lot of women on the streets not wearing the hijab. It’s not that there has been a change by the government at all. You asked me for solutions or words of advice, and I really don’t know the situation here. You know the words of advice or the solutions here. We can only warn you about the signs we see and their consequences.