The Persian Version

A child of mixed parents, from iran and murrica, leila doesn't really fit in with either culture. She's a lesbian, which is hard enough to deal with, much less when you have conservative parents. Her mother says she is shaming her father and grandfather by living this way, but as leila points out, those are just excuses... it's really mom herself who feels ashamed of her daughter. Lots of narration, which gets annoying. The main story is that dad just got a new heart, and must have total relaxation. This puts pressure on the rest of the family to bring home the bacon. Leila has even more surprises coming her way! Will she ever get to live how and where she dreamed? It's pretty good! Interesting to see things from another perspective. Although we didn't really need to spend so much time on the details of her mother's marriages and pregnancies. It's long enough already! Could have cut out about twenty minutes or more. Written and directed by maryam keshavarz, this definitely feels like someone's actual story.

I enjoyed it more than i thought i would! Probably because i went in, expecting a total disaster! I'm happy that it wasn't but to be honest, this movie isn't THE BEST representation of Iranians, but it's a start!

I see a lot of people talking about the first dance scene and how it's not an Iranian dance, but i think it was not supposed to be. I personally was more concerned about the architecture of houses in Iran in this film, but they made this film in the US, i guess it was as good as they could do it.

Actors' performances were a little off, at least to me, but the casting, specifically the young versions of the main characters were right on!

The story could do a little more grooming in my opinion; there were a lot of unnecessary things that they talked about and a lot more important things that they didn't.

All in all, i am so happy that this movie was made, i think it's a start for the new generation of Iranian filmmakers to show the world what has had happened to us in the last 45 years, because they don't believe the things we say to them easily, they think we're making them up!

The Persian Version centers on a mother-daughter relationship, while walking through Iranian-American culture and history, family secrets, trauma, and love. While engaging, this disjointed movie starts as a comedy and then gradually amps up its depth as a drama. While the comedy and the drama are both worthwhile stories, they sit imperfectly together in this film, effectively two separate movies. And yet, for its two narratives, The Persian Version serves a love letter for the strength and resilience of immigrant women and their daughters, especially the fierce Iranian women still fighting for their rights today.

I really liked the movie. It made me laugh and cry, and I enjoyed every moment. When it ended, I missed the characters. The story felt familiar, like something from my family. The family parties from the 80s and 90s were spot-on and brought back memories. The way they showed different times in the story was cool, but I got a bit confused when it went back to the 60s. I wanted to know more about how the husband survived. Also, I didn't get why a guy from a village would go all the way to the US. Despite that, the movie had great characters and showed parts of Iranian culture and strong Persian women. It's a perfect example for other movies that women's rights and support doesn't mean picturing all men as evil monsters or negative.

The writer may have been away from Iran for so long that she's forgotten the actual Iranian life. The movie is called The Persian Version, so I expected it to be relatable to the average Iranian immigrant, but it was not. The depiction of the family's life back in Iran is inaccurate, and the dancing scenes imitate Indian movies. The Iranian houses in the movie are not what typical Iranian houses look like. Their family of 9 is much larger than a classic Iranian family. Even the extent of their belief in religion and the savior did not reflect common religious Iranian beliefs.

For all these reasons I felt a disconnect throughout the movie. The idea for the movie was great, but I wish they would've worked more on their writing and accuracy.