At the end of a leak which, without a doubt, would make a formidable thriller, the dissident filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, sentenced to eight years in prison in Iran, was able to attend the Cannes premiere of the highly anticipated The seeds of the wild fig tree. He was entitled to a twelve-minute ovation. In this case, his film East a thriller, at the very least, in its second part.
The first is a more classic socio-political drama. The idea for the film began to germinate in Rasoulof’s mind in 2022, while he was incarcerated for criticizing the theocratic regime. Outside, the demonstrations that occurred after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old young woman who died three days after her arrest for “wearing inappropriate clothing”, marked him.
Written and produced in secret, The seeds of the wild fig tree alternates the points of view of the four members of a seemingly uneventful family. Najmeh, a housewife (remarkable Soheila Golestani, herself imprisoned two years ago for protesting without covering her head with a scarf), supports the regime as much as she supports her husband, Iman (Missagh Zareh, increasingly worrying). Iman who has just been appointed inspector at the Revolutionary Court, and who hopes to soon be promoted to judge…
The couple has two teenage daughters, Rezvan (Mahsa Rostami) and Sana (Setareh Maleki; both natural), who have more of a protest streak, particularly through the uncensored videos that they manage to view on social networks. social networks.
At work, Iman is expected to meekly issue death sentences against opponents despite thin records. Under pressure, Iman bends her back. He also knows he is vulnerable to threats or intimidation, hence the official revolver he was given, and which he keeps in his bedside table.
Obviously, if there is a revolver, sooner or later there will be a shot…
We don’t name Mahsa Amini, but we see her face on TV when riots break out in the film.
At the same time, in the family apartment, another form of revolt is brewing: Rezvan and Sana resist their mother, who expects exemplary behavior from them so as not to harm their father.
Then the gun disappears. Already on edge, Iman sinks into paranoia. It is at this point that the film turns into a thriller.
The weapon becomes both a trigger and a revealing agent. Convinced that his wife or one of their two daughters stole it, Iman decides to proceed as he would with dissidents: kidnapping, interrogation…
Urgency to tell
It must be said, certain developments appear sometimes melodramatic, sometimes clumsy. However, it should be reiterated that Mohammad Rasoulof designed and shot his film clandestinely, at the risk of his life. And this energy, not of despair, but of the urgency to tell, is felt; she crosses the screen and strikes us down.
Microcosm of a society corrupted by fanaticism, and whose members now distrust each other and turn against each other, the family unit imagined by Rasoulof is compromised by a patriarch (and a patriarchy) drunk with power .
And it is in women, particularly young women in the making, represented by Rezvan and Sana, that Mohammad Rasoulof clearly places his hopes for the future. The seeds of the wild fig tree will he win the Palme d’Or? At the very least, the film has already earned that of courage.
François Lévesque is in Cannes at the invitation of the festival and thanks to the support of Telefilm Canada