The Circle

The Circle, was banned in Iran and won The Gold Lion Award for Best Film at the 2000 Venice Film Festival for Jafar Panahi, a former assistant to and contemporary of Abbas Kiarostami. It is undeniably an important film, exposing as it does the plight of the repressed women of Iran. Single Iranian women cannot smoke in public or travel alone without the permission of a male relative. A woman cannot have an abortion without her husband’s consent. She suffers under oppressive clothing and behavioral restrictions and should she give birth to her own sex, the recriminations are many. Fathers, brothers, husbands, police and the cleric-run state dominate every aspect of female life.

Panahi's film presents the stories of a group of women recently released from prison. Opening in a maternity ward and closing in a prison cell. His message is clear: a girl born in Iran is a girl born a prisoner. Shot in a fractured, episodic style, the dire circumstances of the women portrayed make for sombre, painful viewing although the irrepressible will of the mostly non-professional cast as they battle to break their oppressive shackles is ultimately uplifting.

 

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