The Story of an Iranian Matchmaking Agency at the London Film Festival

The London Film Festival is currently hosting a film from Iran titled "Moaref," directed by Azadi Rezaian Moghadam; a documentary about a matchmaking agency in Iran where its female operators attempt to connect various men and women who seem to have little compatibility with each other, as they believe that "a woman without a husband is a woman without identity." This statement, made by one of the agency's operators, showcases a traditional perspective that still has strong supporters among certain segments of Iranian society. The filmmaker, with minimal resources, tries to portray the main characters and their efforts to perform their jobs using a handheld camera (with unprofessional framing and movements) inside an office. In a sense, the film is highly subject-oriented, aiming to engage the audience solely with its subject, which may seem appealing to a Western viewer. The staff of this agency—some of whom humorously remain single themselves—are women who believe that having a husband at any cost is better than being without one and lacking "shelter." In a scene where they advise a crying woman—who is complaining about her husband's relationship with another woman and is considering divorce—their attempts to persuade her to stay with her husband and accept all the blame create strange dialogues intertwined with religion; at one point, they tell her to read Surah An-Nisa and ask God why men can be with multiple women while women cannot. On the other hand, their repeated emphasis in various parts of the film on women's need to have a husband for financial survival reflects a bitter reality about a society where emotional relationships are based on financial needs and the need for "shelter." However, the filmmaker lacks the ability to analyze the data and remains passive. The film does not reach a specific conclusion, and its neutrality is not a creative or deliberate neutrality. Various dialogues—which could continue for hours or end much earlier—are juxtaposed without the film being able to become a mirror of society or critique it. Even references to women's status—and their financial issues and the matter of temporary marriage—despite being mentioned several times, do not become the main issue of the film. The film could have taken a feminist direction in support of women in a closed and restricted society, but the filmmaker's indecision becomes a significant obstacle. It seems that the female filmmaker hides her emotions, and the only difference we observe regarding female and male clients of this agency is that we do not see the faces of women, and their names are pixelated, while most men are visible in the frame. One of these men, who agreed to appear in front of the camera, says, "If someone wants to buy a car, they go to another agency," and continues that the work of the agency's operators is much more effective than his mother who "sees someone on the street and chooses for him." This agency even organizes a gathering for women and men to meet and announce what type of spouse they are looking for. Most participants talk about "faith, authenticity, and ethics." Only one of the men explicitly states his condition as merely "handsomeness and beauty." Getting closer to the world of these female operators could have formed the film's most significant strength. Although in scenes where we see their jokes (and eating together), such efforts can be traced, ultimately, our understanding of them is insufficient to grasp their situation and speech. When one of them says that during the war, her mother asked her to marry a war veteran, and she went to the Martyrs Foundation, registered, and married a veteran with whom she has now lived for thirty-five years, this is the type of moment the film needed much more of.