by 
Iman: Sana wants to have blue hair?
Scenario
Investigating judge Iman grapples with paranoia amid political unrest in Tehran. When his gun vanishes, he suspects his wife and daughters, imposing draconian measures that strain family ties as societal rules crumble.. Director Mohammad Rasoulof was originally scheduled to take part in the 2023 Cannes Film Festival as a jury member of the Un Certain Regard section . However, he was arrested in July 2022 after criticizing the government’s crackdown on protesters in the southwestern city of Abadan in Iran over a deadly building collapse. On May 8, 2024, Rasouloff’s lawyer announced that he has been sentenced to eight years in prison as well as flogging, a fine and confiscation of his property. On May 12, 2024, Rasouloff announced that he managed to flee Iran and was staying at an undisclosed location in Europe. On May 24, 2024, Rasouloff attended the film’s premiere in Cannes and on the red carpet he held up photos of two of the film’s actors, Soheila Golestani and Missagh Zareh..
Kids think differently
Painted nails? Why? Najmeh: The world has changed. Iman: The world has changed, but God has not. Nor his laws. Najmeh: We have to teach them. Iman: We always have..
Finally, the sacred fig stands on its own"
Opening credits: "Ficus Religiosa is a tree with an unusual life cycle. Its seeds, contained in bird droppings, fall on other trees. Aerial roots spring up and grow down to the floor. Then, the branches wrap around the host tree and strangle it. The seed of the sacred fig is the first relevant, powerful film about the Iranian rebellion that took place in 2022. The Woman, Life, Freedom’s movement was born right after the arrest and death of Jina Mahsa Amini, a student that did nothing but remove her veil. The director takes us down to a family of an Iranian judge (working for the State and the Mollah 's regime) who is about to receive a promotion that is supposed to change his life right at the moment the 2022 revolution starts.
Should I go to university despite the strikes?
We spectators somehow live this key period of Iran through the eyes of this middle class family which is about to upgrade its living conditions. We are emerged in their every day life until the gun of the father (the judge) disappears or gets stolen inside their home. The film features a fantastic script, wonderful actors and images of an unknown Iran. You can see Iran like we can rarely see it, with its modernity, its rich history and ancient monuments, its poverty as well as its drawbacks. Like in many Iranian films, the spectator is plunged into complex situations with ethical questions which oblige to choose between moral, personal values and loyalty to the regime: Shall I wear this veil or another (less provocative one) ? Should I ask a favor to my neighbor and take the risk of revealing my family’s problems? The ethical questions are everywhere, and they are direct consequences of the heavy oppressive regime that has ruled Iran for decades now.
I particularly enjoyed the insight into the Iranian middle class
All these questions are faced with dignity and sense of duty by the characters, with sometimes even loyalty towards a regime who could not care less about its people. Through these situations are revealed the lack of freedom, the oppression over women, the complicity of those who take profit of this regime and of course the brutality of a regime condemned to sacrifice its own people in order to survive. The latter will be perfectly depicted through the fate of the father willing to do his job respectfully but obliged to corrupt himself and sacrifice his people in order to survive to this revolution no matter how painful it is. Being able to see and imagine what is an every day life for women in Iran is difficult to figure from the Western World.