THE DAY I BECAME A WOMAN / (2001) 1/2* (out of four)
By Blake French:
Marzieh Meshkini's "The Day I Became a Woman" is about middle eastern females whom we know nothing about, care nothing about, and thus are in a predicament to keep ourselves occupied throughout the film's brief running time of 74 minutes. The movie is not even as long as the recent "Pokemon" movies, but it feels so much longer. We just sit and collect dust while the movie repeats the same tone over and over and over. If you only have an hour to live, see this movie-it will seem like a week.
"The Day I Became a Woman" contains an interesting history. Experienced Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf decided to stop making films and start teaching. This was the birth of Makhmalbaf Film House, a film school starting off with only eight students. During the course of their studies, the students produced several films as their school projects, including "The Day I Became A Woman," by Makhmalbaf's wife, Marzieh Meshkini.
What is Marzieh Meshkini trying to show us with "The Day I Became A Woman"? " women whose problem is being who they are: women," clarifies Meshkini in press notes. I can certainly see potential in a production about the Eastern societies struggling with the status of women, but this film does not steer in many interesting directions. Since this film's "story" is actually three separate short "stories," why don't we take a look at each individual scenario.
Scenario 1: A young girl named Havva (Fatemaeh Cheragh Akhtar) turns nine years old and is kept from going outside her home to play with her friend. Her grandmother and mother explain to her she has finally become a woman. After negotiating with her guardians, she has until noon to finish her childhood.
There is a lot of symbolism here. Take a scene where the nine-year-old girl tries to persuade a young boy to come outside his house and play with her. As she stands outside, free and spacious, he stands inside, peering out his window, laced with metal bars, temporality bedridden until he completes his homework. This may represent the final stages of Havva's childhood, and how the boy can do nothing to stop the clock, but must stand back and watch. But it is hard to tell. Maybe by portraying him on the inside unable to come out the film is showing what Havva will soon experience? The child actors do a good job of incorporating innocent behavior with confusion, but the film never explores the character's intentions.
Scenario 2: A young woman pedals frivolously in a bike race on an island as she is confronted by her husband, in laws, and elders of her clan. As they attempt to keep up with her on horses, trying to persuade her to return to her original family.
This is where the movie travels down hill, even though it never really started on an uphill note. We know nothing about this woman riding her bike, nor about the various men who try to persuade her to return home. The movie never explains what is going on, does not develop characters, and implies its themes, which are distant and, once again, unclear. I do not know a lot about middle eastern music, but this soundtrack is laughable, consisting of a series of grunts and awkward outbursts. There is some bizarre filmmaking, as well. The camera often zooms in on the road ahead of the woman, then cuts to the bicycle wheels then the pedals-but why? What is this trying to show? How a woman escapes from her restrictive traditions? Then for the love of God tell us more!
Scenario 3: An elderly woman who rides in a wheelchair lands in an island airport and hires a young local boy to aid her in the shopping spree of her life.
Just when we think "The Day I Became A Woman" could not get any worse, it does. Here, we have an old woman fulfilling her desires to own everything she never had. The movie makes subtle implications that the three women are actually the same person, witnessed at different episodes in her life. But that is never really explored either. It seriously lacks interest and an entertaining tone. Even movies that are as serious as a heart attack capture a mood or atmosphere that grabs our attention in some way. However, "The Day I Became a Woman" never does.
"The Day I Became A Woman" is very tedious filmmaking. I am forced to examine my own standards here, since my overall rating of the movie is extremely low. But the movie is obviously not intended for me. I give the movie one half of a star because it has decent performances and is well constructed. But watching this movie almost put me to sleep. What can I say? This picture was a complete and utter waste of 74 minutes of my life.
By Blake French:
Marzieh Meshkini's "The Day I Became a Woman" is about middle eastern females whom we know nothing about, care nothing about, and thus are in a predicament to keep ourselves occupied throughout the film's brief running time of 74 minutes. The movie is not even as long as the recent "Pokemon" movies, but it feels so much longer. We just sit and collect dust while the movie repeats the same tone over and over and over. If you only have an hour to live, see this movie-it will seem like a week.
"The Day I Became a Woman" contains an interesting history. Experienced Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf decided to stop making films and start teaching. This was the birth of Makhmalbaf Film House, a film school starting off with only eight students. During the course of their studies, the students produced several films as their school projects, including "The Day I Became A Woman," by Makhmalbaf's wife, Marzieh Meshkini.
What is Marzieh Meshkini trying to show us with "The Day I Became A Woman"? " women whose problem is being who they are: women," clarifies Meshkini in press notes. I can certainly see potential in a production about the Eastern societies struggling with the status of women, but this film does not steer in many interesting directions. Since this film's "story" is actually three separate short "stories," why don't we take a look at each individual scenario.
Scenario 1: A young girl named Havva (Fatemaeh Cheragh Akhtar) turns nine years old and is kept from going outside her home to play with her friend. Her grandmother and mother explain to her she has finally become a woman. After negotiating with her guardians, she has until noon to finish her childhood.
There is a lot of symbolism here. Take a scene where the nine-year-old girl tries to persuade a young boy to come outside his house and play with her. As she stands outside, free and spacious, he stands inside, peering out his window, laced with metal bars, temporality bedridden until he completes his homework. This may represent the final stages of Havva's childhood, and how the boy can do nothing to stop the clock, but must stand back and watch. But it is hard to tell. Maybe by portraying him on the inside unable to come out the film is showing what Havva will soon experience? The child actors do a good job of incorporating innocent behavior with confusion, but the film never explores the character's intentions.
Scenario 2: A young woman pedals frivolously in a bike race on an island as she is confronted by her husband, in laws, and elders of her clan. As they attempt to keep up with her on horses, trying to persuade her to return to her original family.
This is where the movie travels down hill, even though it never really started on an uphill note. We know nothing about this woman riding her bike, nor about the various men who try to persuade her to return home. The movie never explains what is going on, does not develop characters, and implies its themes, which are distant and, once again, unclear. I do not know a lot about middle eastern music, but this soundtrack is laughable, consisting of a series of grunts and awkward outbursts. There is some bizarre filmmaking, as well. The camera often zooms in on the road ahead of the woman, then cuts to the bicycle wheels then the pedals-but why? What is this trying to show? How a woman escapes from her restrictive traditions? Then for the love of God tell us more!
Scenario 3: An elderly woman who rides in a wheelchair lands in an island airport and hires a young local boy to aid her in the shopping spree of her life.
Just when we think "The Day I Became A Woman" could not get any worse, it does. Here, we have an old woman fulfilling her desires to own everything she never had. The movie makes subtle implications that the three women are actually the same person, witnessed at different episodes in her life. But that is never really explored either. It seriously lacks interest and an entertaining tone. Even movies that are as serious as a heart attack capture a mood or atmosphere that grabs our attention in some way. However, "The Day I Became a Woman" never does.
"The Day I Became A Woman" is very tedious filmmaking. I am forced to examine my own standards here, since my overall rating of the movie is extremely low. But the movie is obviously not intended for me. I give the movie one half of a star because it has decent performances and is well constructed. But watching this movie almost put me to sleep. What can I say? This picture was a complete and utter waste of 74 minutes of my life.