Leïla’s brothers | A film about an Iranian family on the verge of implosion at Cannes

(Cannes) He impressed with a punchy film about drugs in Iran: for the first time in competition at Cannes, Saeed Roustaee signs with Leila’s brothers an ambitious family fresco, against a backdrop of economic crisis in the land of the Mullahs.

After the success of his thriller Tehran law (2021), Saeed Roustaee, 32, returns with a river film of almost three hours which paints the portrait of Esmail (Saeed Poursamimi), a modest old man and father of five children, who dreams of taking the head of the clan family.

An honorary title to which he thinks he has the right by his age. But lo and behold, with this title come pecuniary obligations. How to contribute to the lifestyle of the clan when his means are limited and his four sons are unemployed?

In an almost Balzacian reversal of the situation – how not to see similarities with the book Eugenie Grandet de Balzac — the spectator discovers that Esmail has, in reality, much more money than he leads his children and his wife to believe.

During this time, her daughter Leïla (Taraneh Allidousti), tries, as best she can, to convince her brothers to buy a shop so that they can work. But part of the necessary funds is missing and Esmail intends to keep his money for his investiture at the top of his clan.

Then comes a moral choice: should they steal their father’s money or let him use it for his coronation, and therefore see their only chance for a future slip through their fingers?

Punctuated with scenes of violent explanations, the film paints the portrait of a family on the verge of implosion, with, at its center, a pillar: Leïla, who does everything to tear the family out of its miserable condition.

A film that is very similar, in its style, to the cinema of Asghar Farhadi, member of the Cannes jury.

Not frontally political, it nevertheless shows the delicate economic and social situation of Iran as the United States, led by Donald Trump, intends to withdraw from the Iranian nuclear agreement, plunging thousands of Iranians into poverty. .

The film also sheds a harsh light on the situation of the poor in Iran, their marginalization, in particular through close-ups of the faces of family members. Above all, he questions the codes of a patriarchal society where, as Leila will say, “we are taught to have convictions and not to think”.