The Queen and I

Not much substance here. Persson's background is most interesting. After her brother is killed under the Shah, the Commie revolutionary flees Iran and sneaks into Sweden with a fake passport. I would have loved to have seen a movie about Persson. Instead, we get a puff piece of Evita style worship. Persson eventually works up her nerve to ask Farah about oppression under the Shah. Farah replies with a confusing mishmash excuse of paranoia about Russia! Persson mentions SAVAK, Farah plays down its power, and that's about it. What should be the crux of the movie only gets a minute mention. Persson was scared that if she offended Farah, she wouldn't have a movie to make. An interesting doc, but not a hard hitter.

As I watched this documentary on HBO, I was mesmerized by the conflict between the film-maker, Nahid Persson, and Farah, the former Queen of Iran. Persson, a fighter for the Iranian Revolution of 1979-80, fled to Sweden and is plagued by the misdeeds and tragedy of the regime she helped achieve power. Her regrets include executions, human rights abuses and a death in her own family; yet, she has never forgotten the evils of the monarchy which the current regime replaced.

Onto the stage comes Farah, wife of the late Shah of Iran, who was vilified for her own excesses during a reign that was known for its Westernization of Iran but also the brutal repression and inequality of life for most Iranians. This state of affairs led to social activists and anti-western fascists coming together to overthrow the Shah, who was forced to flee the country with his family. Persson is now a film-maker who wants to confront this exiled Queen.

At first, the Queen is a mass of contradictions. She allows the film-maker to access her personal world and then regrets the whole project. Persson seems like the last person the Queen would ever allow into her sanctum. She seems to want to pose embarrassing questions before the Shah's widow has had a chance to warm up or show a human side to her personality. This is how a more seasoned interviewer would proceed (Katie Couric or Barbara Walters for example). Perhaps Nahid Persson is too personally involved and very soon is bounced from the Queen's life. However, she does not give up on the project and six months later, is back again.

This time, the ex-Queen is more approachable and even willing to see things from the other side - to some extent. No doubt much of this is more astute public relations but she does appear more human and even allows the film-maker to accompany her on a number of personal engagements, including a meeting with a group of Iranian royalists, outings to cafes and art exhibits and even a pilgrimage to the Shah's tomb.

During the course of the film, we see Farah as an elegant and cultured woman who has suffered not just a huge loss of status and prestige but also been isolated from her homeland and been ostracized by many former friends. She has clearly never overcome the shock of the death of a daughter, whose troubled life she attributes to the Shah's downfall. She is lonely and at times her eyes filled with tears. There are compensations for her, particularly her trips to visit her son and grandchildren. She does try to understand the other woman's losses as well and she feels they have both been victims of the current regime in Iran. In the end, the two hug one another and while there is a certain level of compatibility, one cannot imagine them becoming close.

The film evolves in a very compelling way and both seem to become more human figures, less pre-occupied with their own personal struggles. I couldn't take my eyes off this documentary film. It makes for a fascinating and haunting journey that I would love to see again. As someone else so aptly wrote, in the final analysis, we are all human beings.

This couple was never supposed to meet. Queen Farah Diba of Iran and the girl who fought her from the left and made the revolution.

But as often happens, revolutions eat their children and director Nahid Persson had to escape from her country, a country which had just executed her young brother.

So Persson ended up in Sweden, started to make documentaries and one day got the idea of taking contact with the queen, asking if it was possible to make a movie about her life today.

It was possible and the two of them become good friends in the end. The queen is found to still be much of an empress but also a warm person, who doesn't just call people in Iran. She is somewhat, as a paradox, willing to serve.

A warm documentary which once again tells us the truth. Whatever we are, we are first of all human beings.

I found this documentary very moving, yet sober. Two women of very different backgrounds, one an empress the other a former rebel, meet and connect over the similar circumstances they find themselves in after the Iran revolution. Political and class differences aside, filmmaker and commoner Nahid and Empress Farah have both suffered painful losses during and after the revolution, yet they have found a way through the pain to still live meaningful lives. The two women share a profound dream of one day returning to their beloved homeland - and work to that end, each in their own way. It's hard not to be impressed by the sheer classiness of Empress Farah and impossible not to be moved by both women's life stories and budding friendship as it unfolds in 'The Queen and I'. I give this film a hearty recommendation.

This movie interviews the Queen of Iran (whose husband the Shah was deposed in 1979). It is not the usual sycophant publicity garbage and you can really size up Farah.

These figures of history hold a fascination especially if you get a candid look at them.

Farah's life was tragic...two of children committed suicide. Humiliation and loss of power is never a joy.

But this is what makes her someone you like better.

I highly recommend this documentary.

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