Subtraction

When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth… One of Sherlock Holmes’ most famous methodologies is tested to the limit in this genuinely unpredictable rain-soaked suspense film from Iran’s Mani Haghighi (Pig). After all, who is say what is impossible?

Farzaneh (Taraneh Alidoosti, familiar from Asghar Farhadi’s The Salesman) is dismayed when she spots her husband on a city bus, miles from where he said he was going to be. She follows him discreetly and sees what looks awfully like evidence of an extra-marital affair.

Jalal (Navid Mohammadzadeh) swears his innocence and can prove his whereabouts. So what’s the explanation?

To say more would be to risk spoiling the pleasures of this head-scratcher. But what we can say is, Taraneh Alidoosti and Navid Mohammadzadeh do exceptional work to ground Haghighi’s bold conceit in psychological truth. There are political truths here too, about class and economic disparity, about public and private personae, but above all it’s a wild ride that keeps you guessing right up to the end.

Spellbinding.

E. Nina Rothe, Moving Image Middle East

Scintillating.

Lisa Giles-Keddie, Hey U Guys