Subtraction

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.

First of all, one needs to understand what magical realism is to be able to understand the movie and its complex theme. Second of all, this genre along side surrealism, is one of the hardest genres to write/direct because when we deal with a real world where the impossible has been defined as "illogical yet true and acceptable" we also have a strong approach to the beautiful realms of philosophy and psychology. The movie is about personality, human behavior and relationships combined with a mystery drama. The whole story is a character study and if you look closely, you can see both similar individuals as only one person and this is the mirror and the parallel that keeps happening and recurring throughout the film just like a loop because there is no start point for this phenomena. It just exists.

There are so many great layers to each character and so much depth to story that some of it only depends on the viewers' perception and point of view. The movie is about the differences within ourselves and the way we deal with our own personal flaws and how our motives can change us or put us in a course of destruction or redemption. It's like a chain reaction. Every step matters and every decision is vital. This is a dark film with a dark ending and it never stops raining. It's like the whole world is crying. Thank you Mani and thank you Taraneh. Better days will come.

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.

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.