Cast: Bahram Ark, Sadaf Asgari, Ardeshir Kazemi, Gohar Kheirandish, Farzin Mohades, Faehzeh Rad, Majid Salehi, Arghavan Shabani, Hossein Soleimani, Sarvin Sabetian; voices of Ali Asgari, Sara Barami, Behnaz Jafari, Alireza Khatami. Screenplay: Ali Asgari, Alireza Khatami. Cinematography: Adib Sobahni. Production design: Hamed Aslani. Film editing: Ehsan Vaseghi.
The setting of Terrestrial Verses is Tehran, which we see as the sun rises in the film's opening, so we know from the outset that it's about life in the Islamic Republic. Which it is, and really isn't. The film consists of a series of long takes, vignettes of people confronting off-screen bureaucrats, bullies, bosses, and busybodies, whom we hear but don't see. Some of the scenes are specific to life in Iran: a man undergoing an interrogation about his religious faith, a little girl being outfitted with the prescribed garments, a woman accused of uncovering her hair. But some of them could occur anywhere: an elderly woman at a police station looking for her lost dog or a younger woman applying for a job with a boss who finds her attractive. The universality of the experience of dealing with authority gives Ali Asgari and Alireza Khatami's film its familiar pain and humor, especially in an age of creeping authoritarianism. Could such a movie be made here featuring segments about a woman with a difficult pregnancy, or a man denied a medical insurance claim, or a student charged with cheating on an examination? And would it be as splendidly acted as this one is, by a cast of unknowns?
