PFS Film Review
The Unwanted Woman


 

The Unwanted Woman, directed by Tahmineh Milani, who received a Political Film Society nomination for The Hidden Half (2001), offers another stark film that exposes the inequality of women in Iran. When the film begins, Sima (played by Merila Zareie) is a thirty-five-year-old teacher in a girls' high school. A student is reading an essay in front of the class that amounts to an indictment of how girls in Iran are told "No" over and over again by their parents as well as at school. When Sima throws the class discussion open, other girls endorse the points in the essay. In one case, a girl notices that pictures in a photo album show that her mother once had much freedom to wear what she wanted, obviously referring to the era of the Shah. The teacher tries to point out that parents are trying to help the well-being of their children but does not criticize the girls. The scene then shifts to the teacher's home. She has organized some of the women to facilitate purchases of needed goods. When her husband Ahmad (played by Amin Hayaie), arrives home, they disband. Ahmad seems very jovial and takes Sima out to a fancy restaurant. Sima is suspicious of his generosity, presumably due to some unpleasant past experience, and asks why he is being so kind. He finally explains that a woman has recently lost her husband and needs transportation to her hometown in order to claim her inheritance, so he seeks a commission from her by providing a ride, a trip that will last just a few days. Sima must claim that Saba is her niece in order to get permission to travel with her. Smelling a rat, Sima decides to take leave from her teaching to accompany her husband and the woman, and she brings along their five-year-old daughter Homa. When they meet at the police station, Saba (played by Elssa Firouz Azar) is clearly a well-groomed prostitute, surprised on having Sima and Homa along on the trip. Sima seeks to dissuade Saba from taking away her husband by gently criticizing him en route, but Saba eventually reveals that her late husband was a pimp and also identifies Ahmad as a jerk for lying about Sima. On the first night of the trip, the road north of Tehran is blocked due to a winter landslide, so they must turn back and seek lodging in the nearest hotel. However, the hotel is fully booked, and police are to provide blankets so that those who are stranded can sleep in the hallways. While dining at the hotel restaurant, the police eyeball the patrons, seeking a teacher named Sahim, who allegedly killed his wife and daughter because his wife was unfaithful. During the night, Sima overhears Ahmad beg Saba to have sex, but she rejects him because he has lied about his wife. Nevertheless, Sima cannot sleep, so she goes to the car to drink some of her husband's vodka, but suddenly a man with a gun appears, ordering her into the car. She soon learns that the man is Sahim (played by Parssa Pirouzfar). Concluding that he is a kindred spirit--a cuckolded teacher--, she decides to drive him to safety past the police checkpoint, and she drops him off in a hut before returning to the hotel. The following morning, the four continue on the trip, but Ahmad is puzzled that Sima is in good spirits and then annoyed when she talks back to him. When they reach the road that leads to the hut, Sima asks Ahmad to go there to meet a man who is waiting for her. When Sahim appears, brandishing a gun, they begin a conversation about relationships that eventually brings both Ahmad and Sahim to tears and a showdown. Thus, The Unwanted Woman is a title referring to all Iranian women, and the film demonstrates how the inequality of women adversely impacts men. MH

I want to comment on this film

 
1