Iman (Missagh Zareh), an investigating judge in the Revolutionary Court in Tehran, is given a promotion. In return, he is expected to wave through death sentences without considering evidence. At first he tries to resist, believing that a fair investigation should be carried out, but such is his devotion to the country’s regime who are fighting back against protesters flooding the streets, he soon falls into line. He still appears, though, to cherish his wife Najmeh (Soheila Golestani) and daughters Rezvan (Mahsa Rostami) and Sana (Setareh Maleki) until his government-issued handgun goes missing inside his apartment and he suspects one of them has taken it.
The 168 minute run time might put a lot of people off, but that length is needed to fully flesh out the four main characters, and let the story evolve from a family drama to a tension filled thriller. Writer/director Mohammad Rasoulof bravely filmed this in secret in Iran and smuggled the recordings to Hamburg so that Andrew Bird could edit the footage together. He also incorporated real footage of the political protests following the death of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in police custody in Tehran. All that was done whilst Rasoulof was under investigation and, after his movie premiered at Cannes, Rasoulof was given an eight year jail sentence and he had to flee to Germany.
It is a marvel that from that chaos, Rasoulof, Bird and the cinematographer Pooyan Aghababaei produced a remarkably cohesive and affecting work. The performances are all great, particularly Rostami when Rezvan starts to find her independent voice. There are a couple of mis-steps towards the end when Sana shows an unlikely expertise in the field of old technology, but that is a small criticism.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig is still showing at selected art house cinemas and can be purchased to watch at home on the usual services.
Rating: 9 out of 10