Released in the United States in June of this year, Iranian filmmaker, Nahid Persson Sarvestani, turns her lens on Queen Farah, the widow of the last Shah of Iran. This documentary poses the question – well, sorry, I couldn't understand what the premise was, because according to the film maker herself, the film "had a life of its own".
Sarvestani, a former communist sympathizer, escaped from Iran around the time the Ayatollah Khomeini took over leadership and established a theocracy after 2,500 years of monarchical rule in 1979. The story of her disillusionment in the new regime is reflected against her subject's genteel denial of the events that lead to her husband's eventual ouster.
Nahid and Queen Farah share thoughts and feelings about their separate paths that intertwine them for the duration of this engrossing documentary. Pain and sorrow reveal the skepticism of Nahid's memory of the Shah's oppressive rule and the graceful deflection of that harsh reality for Farah. Each woman – both sisters of Iran – symbolize the old and new that is modern Iran today. At one point during the filming, Nahid follows Farah through a dinner party, honoring the former Queen Farah as the undisputed Queen of Iran, among a group of fierce pro-Shah Loyalists.
"What am I doing here?", Nahid says to the camera – or maybe more to herself.
Through it all, what ends up uniting them is not ideology, but a simple mound of earth from their beloved Iranian homeland.
Sarvestani, a former communist sympathizer, escaped from Iran around the time the Ayatollah Khomeini took over leadership and established a theocracy after 2,500 years of monarchical rule in 1979. The story of her disillusionment in the new regime is reflected against her subject's genteel denial of the events that lead to her husband's eventual ouster.
Nahid and Queen Farah share thoughts and feelings about their separate paths that intertwine them for the duration of this engrossing documentary. Pain and sorrow reveal the skepticism of Nahid's memory of the Shah's oppressive rule and the graceful deflection of that harsh reality for Farah. Each woman – both sisters of Iran – symbolize the old and new that is modern Iran today. At one point during the filming, Nahid follows Farah through a dinner party, honoring the former Queen Farah as the undisputed Queen of Iran, among a group of fierce pro-Shah Loyalists.
"What am I doing here?", Nahid says to the camera – or maybe more to herself.
Through it all, what ends up uniting them is not ideology, but a simple mound of earth from their beloved Iranian homeland.