Zanan-e bedun-e mardan

Women Without Men is the debut feature from 'visual artist'-turned- director Shirin Neshat, well known for her artistic works exploring gender relations. It is the adaptation of the 1989 novel of the same name by Shahrnush Parsipur, which was banned by the Iranian government in the 1990s for its outspoken depiction of female oppression.

Women Without Men is a tasteful, beautifully shot, well-meaning drama with some excellent performances and strong story set in a fascinating period in Iranian history. It's let down a little by its tendency to rely on clichés and convenience when it comes to character, but still an extremely enjoyable take on female independence and the intertwining lives of these four women. LB

As a cinematic experience that is both gripping and mesmerizing it deserves a 10 out of 10. But I couldn't care less about the backdrop of the coup d'état, that provided some, but not much, narrative structure.

Somewhere between an audiovisual poem, a feminist tale, and a historical drama, it has taken on too much at once.

To dissect what is exactly wrong with the narrative would be difficult. There are elements of the story that work well: the girls' story before they come to the house, women's place in society, the love stories that develop. If these aspects would have gotten all the attention and focus, it would have been more than enough for me to chew on.

Still I love this film. There is an etherial atmosphere throughout the film that kept my eyes fixed on the screen. Visually the film is stunning, its desaturated look is fitting as a metaphor for the oppression both the country and the women face.

More of a visual impressionist than storyteller, Shirin Neshat uses the thread of magic-realism to weave together vignettes of five besieged Iranian women. The film beautifully depicts the early fifties era in Iran, during the Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi coup and rebellion against American-British usurpation. Men fare badly in this feature, with maybe one silent gardener playing a benign male role. Neshat has a gifted eye, so check out the extra features for her detail-rich explanations of film nuancing. AfroPixFlix finds 8 fig-forks for this film-festival feature.Women Without Men (Zanan-e bedun-e mardan) 2009; 91 mins Directors: Shirin Neshat, Shoja Azari Writers: Shoja Azari, Shirin Neshat

The director Shirin Neshat has in "Zanan-e bedun-e mardan", made a visually stunning and important film, with a lot of good acting performances. Especially by Pegah Ferydoni(as Faezeh), and Arita Shahrzad (as Farrokhlagha). When you walk out of the cinema after having watched this movie, the real world will for a time seem a bit more colorless and unreal.

With the military coup of the Shah of Iran in 1953 as a background, four women find out the price for freedom. And through them, the audience find out the price and value of freedom for themselves. The film also draws the historical lines between the democratic Iran of the early 1950s, and the "Green movement" of today.

"Women Without Men" centers on the lives of four women in 1950's Iran. It offers an interesting view and it's not without its good points, but in general is out of focus, withers, and feels way too long, even if it clocks at just a little over an hour and a half.

The story follows how family, friends, society, repress the lives of four women, and how they react and how they try to break free from the limitations and lack of liberty their environment throws on them. It is kind of dreamlike in its exposure of its ideas, and some situations are more like drawings of a feeling than a real plot developing. It is almost white and black, which suits well with the bleak spirit of the story, which is quite gloomy in general, and it looks quite good. The actors, in general, do quite a good job, even if the material is a little bit thin.

Sadly, the director tries to encompass too much and show too many things, and the films paddles and loses itself. It doesn't help that it has been directed in a very languid style, with little action and long shots. I am not expecting Michael Bay's style to pop by in these kind of movies, but slow can be too slow. And this is one of those cases. On top of that, the story per se is not very original, as we have seen these kind of situations before (for example, the wife who married and meets again the love of her youth), so the movie is not very original either.

A good effort, but kind of a misfire.