This movie seemed to have a lot of promise early on showing the everyday lives of a group of Iranians friend on a weekend holiday on the Caspian Sea. This is not something seen often in movies so it was a welcome change. The acting, cinematography and music all were first rate. The early scenes with Elly were all understated and her uneasiness with the group hinted that something was not quite right.
The scenes leading up to and including the climatic near-drowning scene were well scripted and choreographed.
But after that, the film went downhill fast. There could have been a satisfying film just based on the aftermath of the tragedy and the revelation of Elly's full story and the consequences of forced marriage, the idea of an individual's right to choose etc.
But instead the story went into an almost comedy of errors based on the lies which had been told, and continued to be told throughout the remainder of the film.
I personally have a rule which I call the "Three's Company" rule, whereby it's hard to feel any sympathy or any type of strong bond with the characters if the only reason they're in the predicament they find themselves is because of their own poor decisions.
This, unfortunately, is such a case with this film. The lies that Sepideh told to get Elly there in the first place along with her being less than truthful about the accomodations were bad enough (and GolshiftehFarahani as Sepideh did a fanastic job expressing her guilt over the incident), but the casual lies that the group told Elly's family and fiance, for no real good reason were just unforgiveable, and made the situation worse than it otherwise was.
I don't know if that is supposed to be a comment on Iranian culture where people lie constantly to each other, both between husband and wife, between friends and to strangers, on such a constant basis, to the point that they need to teach their children to lie, but if so it's a terrible commentary on Iranian society.
This aspect marreed what was up to that point a promising film.
The scenes leading up to and including the climatic near-drowning scene were well scripted and choreographed.
But after that, the film went downhill fast. There could have been a satisfying film just based on the aftermath of the tragedy and the revelation of Elly's full story and the consequences of forced marriage, the idea of an individual's right to choose etc.
But instead the story went into an almost comedy of errors based on the lies which had been told, and continued to be told throughout the remainder of the film.
I personally have a rule which I call the "Three's Company" rule, whereby it's hard to feel any sympathy or any type of strong bond with the characters if the only reason they're in the predicament they find themselves is because of their own poor decisions.
This, unfortunately, is such a case with this film. The lies that Sepideh told to get Elly there in the first place along with her being less than truthful about the accomodations were bad enough (and GolshiftehFarahani as Sepideh did a fanastic job expressing her guilt over the incident), but the casual lies that the group told Elly's family and fiance, for no real good reason were just unforgiveable, and made the situation worse than it otherwise was.
I don't know if that is supposed to be a comment on Iranian culture where people lie constantly to each other, both between husband and wife, between friends and to strangers, on such a constant basis, to the point that they need to teach their children to lie, but if so it's a terrible commentary on Iranian society.
This aspect marreed what was up to that point a promising film.