Is there a more potent symbol than of a tyrannical father who runs hot and cold chasing his family through the ruins of a labyrinthian Persian village (that's also his birthplace) and is ultimately confronted by his Gen Z daughter? Other Iranian directors have tended to more oblique methods of storytelling, and I can't help but believe that that results in better art. Not incidentally, watching the trailer for this film that's currently screening in cinemas is a little disorienting given that it tends to focus almost entirely on the second—ie. the significantly weaker—half of the film.
Ends up somewhere not too far away from The Shining’s Overlook Hotel, in spirit at least.
— David Robb (Slant Magazine)
I decided to put away allegorical and metaphorical language because I felt it was a form of self-censorship. Idecided to be myself. What matters to a dictatiorship is that you aren't yourself. Stripping someone of their sense of self is what happens in that system.
— Director Mohammad Rasoulof: Sight and Sound (March 2025)
Synopsis: 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.