Atash bas

Tahmineh Milani, who is one of the foremost women directors in Iran, has established a reputation as a feminist film maker. Films like Two Women and Hidden Half have tried to show the difficulties faced by women in today's Iran. For her new film, Cease Fire, however, Milani has changed her style from serious melodrama to light comedy and, in doing so, has struck box office gold. Cease Fire was a major hit in Iran and I think the clue to this success can be found in any bookshop in Tehran. There, you will find that the best selling books are of the Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus variety. What Milani has done is to take a serious psychoanalytical book and adapt it as a comedy for the screen, a la Woody Allen's Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex. A couple (Golzar & Afshar) who have been bickering & fighting from day one, are contemplating divorce until by chance they both end up visiting a therapist (Pesiani) who dishes them the secrets of a good relationship. Various episodes from the couple's married life are represented as flashbacks in a lighthearted manner. The inclusion of two popular and good looking leads (Golzar & Afshar)also helped propel Cease Fire to the kind of success which frankly this film does not deserve. It is mildly funny and diverting but a real let down from a director of Milani's caliber. Let's hope that Cease Fire's success will not detract Milani from pursuing serious subjects in a manner which befits them.

i watched this movie a week ago. The story line is simple, and meanwhile complicated.a young couple is at the point of divorce over disagreements on just about everything in their relationship. by chance the wife(Afshar) ends up at the office of a psychiatrist instead of a lawyer and from there the story begins and we get flash backs of events from day 1 of the couple meeting each other to the day she left her house to catch an appointment with a lawyer. It is a nice comedy and well worth watching. there are a lot of good points in the story and to tell the truth its a fairly accurate picture of what marriages are like now-a-days: people rushing into marriage after the first date, and then starting a game of cat and mouse with each other. if you are into young couple comedies(sort of like the breakup, but A lot better) and want a good laugh out of life's most embarrassing moments, then this movie is just the right thing for you. enjoy!

I love this movie as a psychologist. That's because Iranian movies barely introduce psychologists as helpful individuals. Iranian movies and directors usually make fun of psychologists and consider them superstitious and non useful! Mrs Milani like always supports women's rights in Iran in her brilliant movies and that's awesome. I only wish that were more elaboration about psychological aspects of the story however I know it would make the movie very long. So it's not possible to include that much of psychological info in a movie. besides the casts did a great job. Anyway I'm so proud of Mrs Milani. hope she can make more and more movies...

Instead of tackling difficult issues like battle of the sexes, emancipation of women, equal rights of both genders in the society and marital problems through a serious and no-nonsense manner, the Iranian director (who is also an architect), Tahmineh Milani chose to approach these matters through a comedy. It was her intention to do so, as she said it herself when the movie was introduced in her presence. The movie delves around Sayeh, a successful and strong-willed female engineer who was on her way to file for divorce from her chaotic marriage with the equally confident and chauvinistic husband, Yousef.

Instead of finding the lawyer who was supposed to handle the divorce, she ended up in the office of a therapist who convinced her (and later the husband) to try to work things out and get in touch with their "inner child". Between comical flashbacks and humorous affairs with family and friends, this movie succeeded in dealing with the touchy problems of this beautiful couple's marital life in a light and entertaining manner. But can the marriage still be salvaged? Or did they go their separate ways? Find out for yourself and listen to your "inner child", watch this beautiful movie, which was already a box office hit in its home country, Iran.

Though the subject matter of Cease Fire is nothing new, Tahmineh Milani makes it seem fresh and vibrant by both visual and narrative means. Milani creates quite a bit of tension with the simple premise and povides yet another excellent glimpse into Iranian middle class society and the fragility of modern marriage. Small yet impactful.