Subtraction

Saw this at the Imagine film festival 2023 in Amsterdam. An interesting setup, where relational issues are intended to be more important than the SciFi/Mystery elements, coming about by two identical men and two identical women, all four living in Tehran within a few miles of each other. In such a large, crowded city their resemblance can and will remain hidden for a long time. Until a chance encounter, changing everything.

So far so good. However, the story at hand extends this idea a giant step further by introducing two equally looking married couples. It stretches my imagination far beyond believability. Apart from that, there could have been given more attention to their respective differences.

I think that the filmmakers also wanted to tell us something about the patrimonial society that Iran is. This mission has limited success. We observe differences between the two households when looking at the hierarchical distance between husband and wife, but it is something that we must read between the lines. It easily gets hidden under the hood, as the other plot elements attract much more attention than political and social aspects.

Earlier this year I saw Superposition (Karoline Lyngbye 2023), also presenting two identical couples who meet each other and interact, yet for the remainder both stories differ on all counts, bringing totally different complications and developments. Both film plots are surreal and are difficult to get your head around when thinking about it. In the case of Superposition, I had the idea that the setup was therapeutical for one of the couples who needed that, otherwise their relationship threatened to get stranded.

In the case of Subtraction, however, I was at a loss about purpose, morale and message, if any. I scored 4/5 for the audience award when leaving the venue. In other words, well-made but missing a few chances to exploit the plot better.

The film was produced in the year 2022 and is one of the films that have been illegally published in cyberspace due to problems. Minus the margins of the film in terms of release, it can be said that it is considered one of the different films of recent years in Iranian cinema. A different story with brilliant performances by Taraneh Alidousti and Navid Mohammadzadeh, along with the direction of Mani Haghighi, has made a good movie that is worth watching. However, things like the rain throughout the film, that too in the location of Tehran, are a little far from reality, and maybe the location of the story could have been changed and still use the eerie atmosphere of the rain. It seems that is the best film in Mani Haghighi's directorial career.

I'll preface this review by saying that I didn't go in "blind", as I had seen the trailer. I'll also say I saw this film with French subtitles, as I don't speak Farsi. I didn't glance away once from the film.

The plot of this film is unique and nothing like other recent Iranian films. This film doesn't deal with social issues head on, and instead has a subtle and unique plot.

I personally had no issue distinguishing between when Taraneh Alidoosti was playing Farzaneh and Bita/ Navid M. Playing Jamal/Mohsen, except for when Haghighi intended for there to be confusion.

The reason I gave this film 7 stars is because some of the behavior of the characters seems quite irrational, but just used to further the film plot.

I would suggest going in blind (not watching the trailer) before heading to the theater, so the first 20-30 minutes will also be a surprise.

Prior to watching the movie's premiere in Paris, given Mani Haghighi's remarkable creativity, especially demonstrated in films like "Dragon Arrives," I had high expectations for a highly imaginative and unique movie, especially with the idea of Taraneh and Navid together, which was partly fulfilled and partly not.

The storytelling, with its attention to intricate personal relationships that people often try to conceal, is captivating and impactful. It also induces the question of whether we fall in love with people's appearances or their personalities. The inappropriate behavior of a romantic partner, the inability to move on in a relationship, or falling in love outside of it-the film raises questions that define our perception of individuals.

The movie's narrative is such that it proves extremely challenging for the two main characters to portray, and this surpasses the acting ability of even a talented actor like Navid Mohammadzadeh, whose style of acting remains inflexible even in two separate roles in two different films. Thus, the actors could have been chosen more intelligently.

The screenplay tells a fascinating, creative, and maneuverable story for the director. However, quite evidently, Mani Haghighi couldn't inject his mindset from this narrative into the viewers' veins. Perhaps the limited time during the film's production played a role. The movie starts well and progresses reasonably swiftly initially. If we divide the film into three parts concerning its timing, we can observe that the pacing is not only uniform but also not deliberately so, sometimes proving vexing for the audience.

Overall, the film is a distinct one, which might transform the monotonous trend in Iranian cinema in recent decades. Best wishes to dear Mani Haghighi.

This movie starts off with a fascinating premise: if there is someone who looks just like us in this world - but is not a biological twin - how different can they be from us? Quite a bit different, this movie suggests.

The problem, for me, was keeping track of the two different women played by the same actress. Sometimes I really wasn't sure which was which. That's not meant as a criticism, though, because I saw the movie in Persian with French subtitles and don't understand a word of Persian. The actress could have been doing all sorts of things with language to create distinctions, but I had no way of catching them.

I was unhappy with the way the movie turned out because I didn't understand why husband M was so jealous of his wife's interactions with Jahil. It's true that it had been made clear from early in the movie that M had a violent temper. Again, that may have been something I missed because I had to rely on the French subtitles.

The movie held me, but I thought it was longer than it turned out to be. Again, that may have been because I couldn't follow the dialogue itself.