The queen and I

This film gives a fascinating and enlightening portrait of the last Queen of Iran, Farah. I knew very little about her prior to viewing this film, but now I feel as if I know her intimately. The filmmaker definitely treads a fine line between wanting to confront the Queen with the Shah's transgressions and viewing the Queen as an elegant and refined woman whose life of luxury and privilege has ultimately turned to be one of disappointment. By the end of the film the hard questions have been asked and answered; whether or not the viewer chooses to accept the explanations is up to him or her. It is very obvious to me that, despite the oppressions imposed during the Shah's regime, Iranians would be far better off today were they still under his rule instead of being a theocracy run by evil zealots.

After revolutions happen, it is rarely the case that the participants and the deposed get to meet -- let alone have a conversation with -- each other. The value of this documentary lays in the fact that a child of and participant in the Iranian revolution of 1979 (whose brother was executed in the aftermath, and who herself fled the country) sought out, met, and even began to see things from the viewpoint of Farah Diba, the Shah's third wife and widow, who lives a life of luxury and loneliness in Paris. That these conversations were possible is to the credit of both participants, and Nahid Persson does a remarkable job of showcasing the range of Iranian responses to the Shah and his rule -- from sycophantic Iranian Americans who still consider his son their King, to an Iranian man who was a victim of the Shah's policies. The filmmaker ultimately fails to ask some hard questions, and Farah is naturally suspicious of her motives at times, but in the end a portrait emerges of two women who have both in their own ways been pawns in a game of chess played by history. There is reconciliation, even if there is inadequate emphasis on truth.

Released in the United States in June of this year, Iranian filmmaker, Nahid Persson Sarvestani, turns her lens on Queen Farah, the widow of the last Shah of Iran. This documentary poses the question – well, sorry, I couldn't understand what the premise was, because according to the film maker herself, the film "had a life of its own".

Sarvestani, a former communist sympathizer, escaped from Iran around the time the Ayatollah Khomeini took over leadership and established a theocracy after 2,500 years of monarchical rule in 1979. The story of her disillusionment in the new regime is reflected against her subject's genteel denial of the events that lead to her husband's eventual ouster.

Nahid and Queen Farah share thoughts and feelings about their separate paths that intertwine them for the duration of this engrossing documentary. Pain and sorrow reveal the skepticism of Nahid's memory of the Shah's oppressive rule and the graceful deflection of that harsh reality for Farah. Each woman – both sisters of Iran – symbolize the old and new that is modern Iran today. At one point during the filming, Nahid follows Farah through a dinner party, honoring the former Queen Farah as the undisputed Queen of Iran, among a group of fierce pro-Shah Loyalists.

"What am I doing here?", Nahid says to the camera – or maybe more to herself.

Through it all, what ends up uniting them is not ideology, but a simple mound of earth from their beloved Iranian homeland.

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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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.