Leila (Dariush Mehrjui, w/ Leila Hatami)
Iran
•
2h 5m
Directed by Dariush Mehrjui • Drama • With Leila Hatami, Ali Mosaffa • 1999 • 125 minutes
Reza and Leila, an attractive and affluent young couple deeply in love and recently married, discover that Leila is unable to conceive. Invoking tradition, Reza's mother convinces her daughter-in-law that Reza must, out of necessity, take a second wife to produce an heir. The heartbreak that follows is "in a word, devastating" (The New York Times).
Called "the most interesting and accomplished filmmaker the United States has never heard of" by Godfrey Cheshire in The New York Press, Mehrjui has become more familiar to audiences with the critical and box office success of Leila which topped the critics' lists for best films of 1999.
Up Next in Iran
-
Fifi Howls from Happiness
Directed by Mitra Farahani • Documentary • With Bahman Mohassess, Rokni Haerizadeh, Ramin Haerizadeh • 2014 • 102 minutes
Mitra Farahani’s lyrical documentary explores the enigma of provocative artist Bahman Mohassess, the so-called “Persian Picasso,” whose acclaimed paintings and sculptures dom...
-
Where God is Not
Directed by Mehran Tamadon • Documentary • 2023 • 112 minutes
Taghi, Homa and Mazyar were arrested and interrogated by the Iranian regime. All three testify with their bodies, with their gestures and tell what it means to resist, what it means to break. Is there any hope that the torturer will o...
-
My Worst Enemy
Directed by Mehran Tamadon • Documentary • With Mehran Tamadon, Zar Amir Ebrahimi • 2023 • 82 minutes
“What are you thinking? You’re thinking, ‘This is cinema. I’m sowing seeds to create a dialogue.’ Maybe you’ll be able to open a dialogue. A dialogue without any outcome.” — Zar Amir Ebrahimi
F...
