Pari (film)

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Movie
Original title par
Country of production Greece , France , Netherlands , Bulgaria
original language Farsi , English , Greek
Publishing year 2020
length 101 minutes
Rod
Director Siamak Etemadi
script Siamak Etemadi
production Konstantinos Kontovrakis ,
Giorgos Karnavas
music Pierre Aviat
camera Claudio Bolivar
cut Panos Voutsaras
occupation

Pari is a film of the Iranian - Greek director Siamak Etemadi from the year 2020 . It premiered on February 25, 2020 at the Berlinale .

action

Pari and Farrokh are a married couple from Iran who strictly adhere to religious rules. They travel to Athens to visit their son Babak, who is studying there. When Babak does not pick them up at the airport as agreed, they drive to his apartment. There they learn from his landlady that he has not been seen for three months. Pari and Farrokh inquire at the Iranian embassy and at the Polytechnio , the university where Babak studied. They learn that his scholarship has expired and that there has been no trace of him since then. Farrokh is appalled and fears that Babak may have gone astray. Pari, on the other hand, examines Babak's room and tries to find out what interested and moved her son during his last time in Athens. She comes across a poem by the poet Rūmī , which Babak translated, and translates it back into Persian with the help of a dictionary. The poem, whose central theme is rebirth, serves as a recurring motif in the film.

Language skills in Paris prove to be crucial: since she speaks some English, unlike her husband, she is the only one of the two who can communicate in Athens. Pari, who never spoke unsolicited or spoke to strangers at the beginning of the film, increasingly takes over the direction of the joint investigations. At the university, Pari receives a hint from the student Zoe that she should look in Exarchia , the center of the alternative and autonomous scene in Athens. In Exarchia, the couple get caught up in a demonstration that escalates into a street fight between the autonomists and the police. Pari is separated from Farrokh. She joins the Autonomists in the hope of meeting Babak acquaintances there. With Zoe's help, she finds the camp where Babak last lived and a young man who knew him. He says Babak left town and no one knows where to go. When Pari returns to Farrokh, Farrokh's already ailing health has deteriorated. Farrokh dies in her hotel room.

Pari is now on his own. She follows her suspicion that Babak, who loved the sea like her, could have gone to sea. So she makes her way to the port of Piraeus . There she met a prostitute who knew Babak and confirmed her suspicion: Babak had been hired on a ship and was happy with this way of life. She also notes that Babak described his mother completely differently: The religiously conservative woman Babak told her about, she does not recognize in Pari - who has since taken off her chador and headscarf and appears independently and confidently. On the spur of the moment, Pari follows a group of prostitutes on a merchant ship. On deck, Pari looks out to sea and faces an uncertain future.

background

Pari was produced by the Greek company Heretic with the support of the French production company Le Bureau , the Dutch Topkapi Films , the Swiss Bord Cadre Films and the Bulgarian company Chouchkov Brothers . Producing the film in Iran was inconceivable for Siamak Etemadi due to the lack of artistic freedom in this country.

Pari is the first feature film by Siamak Etemadi, who wrote and directed the script. Much of the film takes place in Exarchia , where Etemadi also lives. Etemadi, who took on Greek citizenship, has lived in Athens since 1995, where he came as a student - like Babak in the film. He does not only find himself in the character of his son Babak (who never appears in the film), but has also incorporated his experiences as an Iranian migrant in Greece into various characters, not least in the main character Pari. He had become acquainted with the Rūmī poem himself in Athens when he found an English translation and studied the poem's Persian roots. It helped him find his own way in Greece.

Etemadi called the film a "love letter to his mother," whose name is Pari and to whom the film is dedicated. The idea for the film came to him when his mother visited him. He wondered what she would do if he didn't pick her up at the airport, and decided that she would be relentlessly looking for him.

Some of the scenes of street fighting were filmed with hidden cameras by a film crew during a real demonstration in Exarchia. Other scenes are re-enacted. The dangerous scene in which Paris chador catches fire was played by Melika Foroutan herself in a fireproof suit. Foroutan, who grew up in Germany, worked with an Iranian actress as a culture coach. Among other things, she learned from her how to convincingly wear the unfamiliar chador. During the external shoots, she first experienced the hostility that women wearing chador are often shown.

reception

David Mouriquand in Exberliner magazine called Pari one of the must-see films at the Berlinale. The film, inspired by the Greek tragedy , is exciting and multifaceted and has a stunning leading actress. Jan Lumholdt also wrote on the Cineuropa platform that Melika Foroutan's intrepid portrayal of the main character was worth the price of admission. Marko Stojiljković on the Asian Movie Pulse platform called Pari “a unique cinema experience that does not allow for simple categorization”. Etemadi paints a multi-layered picture that treats both cultures with respect without ignoring their differences. Etemadi's script had a certain length towards the end, but his directing style was perfect, supplemented by the masterful use of editing, camera work and suspenseful, eerie film music. The film relies heavily on the main actress, who is constantly changing and yet remains true to herself.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Pari on the website of the Berlinale, accessed on March 5, 2020.
  2. ↑ a b c d Christopher Vourlias: Berlin: Siamak Etemadi on Finding His Path in Panorama Player 'Pari'. In: Variety . February 25, 2020, accessed on March 5, 2020 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e Bahareh Ebrahimi: "I wanted to show the energy of the city". In: new Germany . February 28, 2020, accessed March 5, 2020 .
  4. ↑ a b David Mouriquand: DAY 6: Interview - 'Pari' star Melika Foroutan. In: Exberliner . February 25, 2020, accessed on March 5, 2020 .
  5. ^ Jan Lumholdt: Review: Pari. In: Cineuropa. February 26, 2020, accessed on March 6, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Marko Stojiljković: Film review: Pari (2019) by Siamak Etemadi. In: Asian Movie Pulse. February 26, 2020, accessed on March 7, 2020 .