A Look at the Film 'Rag Khwab', Winner of the Main Awards from the Critics and Writers Association of Cinema

'Rag Khwab', directed by Hamid Nematollah, has been well-received by audiences in Iran and has achieved good box office sales. On Friday night, it won the main awards from the Critics and Writers Association of Cinema, including Best Film of the Year. 'Boutique', Nematollah's first film, marked the emergence of a young independent filmmaker who aims to focus on moments and people that are less represented on screen. Nematollah continued his work quietly for years until he reached 'Rag Khwab': a film that appears louder than his previous works in Iranian cinemas, featuring the acclaimed performance of Leila Hatami (winner of the Fajr Festival award) and the voice of Homayoun Shajarian, which can be credited for part of the film's popularity and sales. In 'Boutique' - despite the central character Golshifteh Farahani - he created a masculine world that he knew well; however, in 'Rag Khwab', he steps into a feminine world created by his wife, screenwriter Masoumeh Bayat. Thus, we are confronted from the beginning with the world of a woman and her encounter with the masculine world around her. The film explores the inner life of a woman and portrays the flickering hope of a love that extinguishes too soon, narrating a fragile main character who quickly unravels in the face of challenges. Although the film speaks about women - and can be described as 'anti-man' due to the negative portrayal of all the men we see or hear about - it ultimately is not a feminist film. The image it presents of the main character is that of a highly vulnerable and emotional woman (the opposite of the strong, determined woman favored by feminists), whose many sufferings are believed to stem from the 'weakness of the female gender' in the film's world. On the other hand, the film's anti-male perspective remains superficial and does not delve deeply. Kamran is depicted as an angel whose wings quickly prove to be fake, but his angelic image is nothing but a construct of Mina's mind, a woman who lacks the ability and courage to communicate with her father. Throughout the film, we encounter a narration where she speaks to her father about herself and her thoughts: the film's most significant weakness is its unnecessary reliance on dialogue instead of imagery, culminating in a clichéd monologue with promises for a more powerful confrontation with life. Additionally, the shadow of a father looms over the entire film. The woman's references to her father's harsh looks - and her crying during the narration - are insufficient for characterizing a man we do not see directly throughout the film but hear much about. Furthermore, this reference - which emphasizes that the father never punished her for her failures but only had harsh looks - is inadequate to demonstrate the patriarchy intended by the writer (any father would naturally give a harsh look if he saw his child failing). However, despite the occasionally intrusive narration, the film succeeds at times in engaging the viewer with its main character. Beautiful romantic feelings emerge in single shots and dialogues that can provide insight into a woman, with all her weaknesses and problems, who can still view the world differently and perhaps does not want to grow up (the emphasis on the positive/negative presence of the 'father' in this woman's life indirectly highlights the presence of a childish world that cannot cope with the complexities of her harsh surroundings). Her fragility mingles with her fears of life and is symbolically represented by a cat on screen. Whenever the film tries to resort to dialogue - often narration - it distances itself from its visual creativity, and each time it attempts to convey its messages through a mere look, it is much more successful. Nematollah showcases his understanding of cinema through precise framing and calculated editing, drawing on years of writing about cinema. The performances of both lead actors constitute the film's strength, except for the final meeting scene between the woman and Kamran in the restaurant; both the dialogue and the acting, as well as the directing, are strangely exaggerated and significantly differ from the rest of the film. It would have been preferable if the film's conciseness in depicting the relationship between this man and woman - which is absurdly considered a 'forbidden relationship' in today's Iran and naturally the filmmaker cannot portray it clearly - was evident throughout the rest of the film. The representation of this man's and woman's relationship is condensed into three thoughtfully cinematic scenes: one where their faces accidentally come close to each other, another where the man is changing clothes and the woman helps him; and the morning when the woman is making breakfast while the man wakes up in bed.