FIREWORKS WEDNESDAY
A film by Asghar Farhadi
2006 (2016), 104 minutes
2006 (2016), 104 minutes
No. 005
NARRATIVE
NARRATIVE
Description
From the Academy Award winning director of A Separation and About Elly, Asghar Farhadi’s Fireworks Wednesday is a dramatic story of marital intrigue and betrayal set against the backdrop of the Persian New Year.
Rouhi (Taraneh Alidoosti, Elly of About Elly), a young bride-to-be, is hired as a housemaid for an affluent family in Tehran. Upon arriving she is immediately thrust into an explosive domestic conflict. The wife, Mojdeh, is convinced her husband is having an affair with a recently divorced woman living next door and enlists Rouhi as a spy, to follow her husband, and confirm her suspicions.
Over the course of single day – the Wednesday before the Persian New Year, aka Red Wednesday, a joyous time of celebrating with bonfires, firecrackers and dancing in the streets – Rouhi, the sparring couple, their small son, the wife’s sister and her husband, and the suspected mistress engage in a series of exchanges, confrontations and prevarications as the truth unfolds. What Rouhi discovers threatens not only the couple’s marriage but her own hopes for a happy future.
Rouhi (Taraneh Alidoosti, Elly of About Elly), a young bride-to-be, is hired as a housemaid for an affluent family in Tehran. Upon arriving she is immediately thrust into an explosive domestic conflict. The wife, Mojdeh, is convinced her husband is having an affair with a recently divorced woman living next door and enlists Rouhi as a spy, to follow her husband, and confirm her suspicions.
Over the course of single day – the Wednesday before the Persian New Year, aka Red Wednesday, a joyous time of celebrating with bonfires, firecrackers and dancing in the streets – Rouhi, the sparring couple, their small son, the wife’s sister and her husband, and the suspected mistress engage in a series of exchanges, confrontations and prevarications as the truth unfolds. What Rouhi discovers threatens not only the couple’s marriage but her own hopes for a happy future.
Reviews
"Four Stars. The Iranian director of A Separation has made another icily cool and controlled film about marriage that is filled with emotional explosions." – The Guardian
"A compelling, corrosive account of male-female relationships in today’s Tehran." – Time Out
"A compelling, corrosive account of male-female relationships in today’s Tehran." – Time Out
