Ceasefire (Atash bas) is an Iranian film about a conflict between a traditional male married to a liberated woman. Director Tahmineh Milani has dealt with the same theme in several previous movies, notably The Hidden Half, which garnered a Political Film Society nomination for best film on human rights in 2001. However, in Ceasefire she decides to use comedy to make the point that men have to adjust to the reality that modern women deserve respectful treatment. When the film begins, project engineer Sayeh (played by Mahnaz Afshara) seeks a divorce but by mistake knocks on the door of a psychiatrist (played by Attila Pesyani) instead of a lawyer. She is soon discovered in the psychiatrist’s office by her husband, Yousef (played by Mohammad Reza Golzar). Separately, the psychiatrist informs both that their problem is that they are not behaving maturely but instead are trying to act out their “inner child.” There are ample examples of misconduct, but the arguments between the two are highly intellectual, and they are always won by Sayeh. Alas, the results of the Iranian presidential election of 2005 may be a setback for Milani’s agenda of female liberation, but the comedy is as delightful as the battle of the sexes in such American films as Woman of the Year (1942). MH
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