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United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: Farsi ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), English ( Subtitles ), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (1.78:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Anamorphic Widescreen, Booklet, Documentary, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: Celebrated Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami directed this experimental feature in which, in the truest sense, the audience is the star. Shirin was shot during a performance of a play based on Farrideh Golbou's narrative poem Khosrow e Shirin, a love story in which an artist and an emperor both vie for the hand of a queen from Armenia. However, what is happening on stage is never seen; instead, Kiarostami trains his camera on the women watching the performance (one of whom is French actress Juliette Binoche, while the others are artists from Iran). We see the story as it is reflected in the reaction of the spectators, who laugh, cry and become drawn into the emotions of the tale that is played out before them. Shirin was an official selection at the 2008 Venice Film Festival. ...Shirin
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Format:DVD
A cinematic curio, this one. An audience of mostly women is seated for a film of a legendary romance, replete with journeys, palaces, doomed love across the tracks, war and betrayal, destiny being played out however harsh and unsatisfactory.
And we don't see any of that stuff, except in so far as it is reflected in the eyes of the spectators in the theatre. They stare, they ponder, they smile a little, they get a jolt at the violence and plenty of tears along the way. We hear the story and to be honest its only slightly foggy for not being seen. What this then amounts to is ninety minutes of moving portraits of women, young and old, reacting to a narrative of true love doomed to remain unfulfilled.
Some will undoubtedly find the whole thing an empty conceit, boring and contrived. For my part, I was yawning after an hour or so, but what really proved unbelievable was just how attentive the director liked to present the audience. No munching on sweets, dozing off, gabbing or texting going on in this cinema. You get the feeling that not only is every occupant of every seat a separate human being (of course, true) but that they all came in alone (hardly likely).
Lots of the faces on display are beautiful, elegantly haloed in headscarves, so that helps. A lot. I don't know if there is a political or subversive intention behind Shirin, except to convey that maybe not much has changed for Iranian women since the days of the forlorn heroine. There is still all consuming love, jealousy and mishaps to be endured, but that's true everywhere.
As I say, a curio.
And we don't see any of that stuff, except in so far as it is reflected in the eyes of the spectators in the theatre. They stare, they ponder, they smile a little, they get a jolt at the violence and plenty of tears along the way. We hear the story and to be honest its only slightly foggy for not being seen. What this then amounts to is ninety minutes of moving portraits of women, young and old, reacting to a narrative of true love doomed to remain unfulfilled.
Some will undoubtedly find the whole thing an empty conceit, boring and contrived. For my part, I was yawning after an hour or so, but what really proved unbelievable was just how attentive the director liked to present the audience. No munching on sweets, dozing off, gabbing or texting going on in this cinema. You get the feeling that not only is every occupant of every seat a separate human being (of course, true) but that they all came in alone (hardly likely).
Lots of the faces on display are beautiful, elegantly haloed in headscarves, so that helps. A lot. I don't know if there is a political or subversive intention behind Shirin, except to convey that maybe not much has changed for Iranian women since the days of the forlorn heroine. There is still all consuming love, jealousy and mishaps to be endured, but that's true everywhere.
As I say, a curio.
Format:DVD
If you fancy something completely different, then this film will definitely fit the bill. Kiarostaimi comes at cinema from a completely different angle to everyone else and has created a sort of anti-cinema that is quite wonderful to behold. Here he has decided to tell one of the great epic legends of ancient Persian myth, the tragic romance of Khosrow and Shirin, but rather than show the actual events on screen, the entire film is only heard, as we watch the reactions of of the audience as they watch the film themselves, in an endless series of amazing close ups. This may sound pretentious to some people but the results are really quite captivating. The close ups are entirely of Iranian women, including a cameo from juliette binoche, and this adds yet another piece to the cannon of iranian new wave cinema's role as one of the loudest, and unlikeliest, feminist voices in world cinema. It is interesting that due to the strictness of the Iranian regime's censorships laws over artists, that Iranian directors like kiarostaimi, and the makhmalbaf's for example, have had to come up with new and more surprising and subtle ways to tell stories with important messages.
Like his masterpiece 10, filmed entirely from the dashboard of one woman's car as she drives various people around Tehran, this comes at cinema from the opposite direction (quite literally in this case!) and you certainly won't find another film anything like this! The many actresses' subtle performances are truly beguiling and give a response to the events happening beyond our sight. This also adds another level as, like when reading a book, we can imagine the events on screen in our own heads, based on the sounds, words and faces of the women watching.
Essential, and experimental, viewing.
Like his masterpiece 10, filmed entirely from the dashboard of one woman's car as she drives various people around Tehran, this comes at cinema from the opposite direction (quite literally in this case!) and you certainly won't find another film anything like this! The many actresses' subtle performances are truly beguiling and give a response to the events happening beyond our sight. This also adds another level as, like when reading a book, we can imagine the events on screen in our own heads, based on the sounds, words and faces of the women watching.
Essential, and experimental, viewing.
4 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
i am a massive kiarostami fan, he is one of my favorite directors however he fails badly with this film. the premise of watching people watching something is interesting, and works for maybe five minutes, but after that it becomes boring and slighlty wanky, esp when you spot memebers of his previous films in the audience. im sure as a short five minute film this would work, but not for the whole thing. whereas FIVE seems to work out of a glllery context this is a huge let down. watch any of his others instead!
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