I hope everyone enjoyed last night's screening. I had forgotten that the 35mm print didn't have the same quality of subtitling as the DVD. For instance, it didn't translate the titles of the three stories -- which corresponded to the three central characters. In the first story, the little girl is called 'Hava', which is a version of 'Eve', the 'first woman'. In the second story, the young woman is called 'Ahoo' and this is also the Farsi word for 'deer' -- which are shown twice darting across the landscape as the husband shouts out. In the third story, the old woman is called 'Houra', which (presumably as a deliberate irony) means 'nymph'. The English language script is on the Makhmalbaf website on the film's own page.
The excellent web essay by Adrian Danks on the Makhmalbaf Film House that I quoted in my introduction is on the Senses of Cinema website. There is also an earlier posting on this blog about the Makhmalbafs.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
In answer to your post - I loved this film!
I guess we'll discuss it in more depth in next week's session (can you tell I am beginning to give up on anyone else on the course posting in a discussion on here?!!), but I do want to say that although this film covers issues that in themselves could make you despair, I found the film itself to be a real heart-warmer.
I totally agree. I admit that the final shot of Houra on the makeshift raft has become my screensaver! There was just an indescribable pleasure in the idea of taking pleasure for yourself when life has not gone out of its way to provide you with any.
Thanks for the explanation about 'deer' in the second film - it somehow seems to explain her expression as she is riding, startled and vulnerable by so intent on escape. That was the potentially heart-breaking tale - did anyone else have to 'cheat' and avoid misery by choosing the more positive story of the outcome that's offered by the two girls in the final tale?
Post a Comment