SYNOPSICS
Teheran Tabu (2017) is a Persian movie. Ali Soozandeh has directed this movie. Jasmina Ali,Hasan Ali Mete,Zahra Amir Ebrahimi,Milinko Ametovic Beganovic are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2017. Teheran Tabu (2017) is considered one of the best Animation,Drama movie in India and around the world.
In this gorgeously animated drama, the lives of several strong-willed women and a young musician intersect. Their stories reveal the hypocrisies of modern Iranian society, where sex, drugs, and corruption coexist with strict religious law. In the bustling metropolis of Tehran, avoiding prohibitions has become an everyday sport and breaking taboos can be a means of personal emancipation. Nevertheless, women invariably end up on the bottom rung of the social order. A young woman needs an operation to "restore" her virginity. A judge in the Islamic Revolutionary Court exhorts favors from a prostitute in exchange for a favorable ruling. The wife of an imprisoned drug addict is denied the divorce she needs in order to live independently. Making use of rotoscope animation, expat Iranian filmmaker Ali Soozandeh creates a portrait of contemporary Tehran that would be impossible by any other means.
Teheran Tabu (2017) Reviews
A Thought-Provoking Portrait Of Life In Contemporary Iran
Exposing the hypocrisy & double standards of men, especially when it comes to matters of sex, Tehran Taboo captures how patriarchy plays an important role in subduing almost every aspect of women's lives and how religion is nothing but a charade used by men to impose their close-minded beliefs. Tehran Taboo interweaves three storylines. The first follows a prostitute trying to earn a living to raise her kid. The second concerns her pregnant neighbour who is seeking work against her husband's wishes. And third subplot is about an aspiring musician whose latest sexual encounter results in an unexpected problem. Written & directed by Ali Soozandeh, the film employs rotoscoping animation technique to bring its tale to life as filming in real locations would've been a high-risk endeavour. But the director succeeds in painting a gripping portrait of life in contemporary Iran where path to freedom & happiness involves breaking societal taboos on a daily basis. Although the characters are believable and their predicament is relatable, the film is more interested in the bigger picture than their individual lives. It attacks these existing norms in a blunt fashion, questioning its relevance in today's world, and is unfazed in its depiction of sex, adultery, corruption, prostitution & sex coexisting within a stern religious system. Combining live-action with animation, the rotoscoping process gives the images a rich, lifelike appearance, which is all the more uplifted by fluid camerawork & apt lighting. Coming to the performances, everyone chips in with fabulous inputs but it's Elmira Rafizadeh who leaves the most lasting impression with her wonderfully layered & expertly rendered act. While the strict, restrictive & regressive Islamic setting does magnify the unfair treatment of women in a society such as this, the narrow minded thinking isn't exclusive to this particular demographic, for it has its origins in the patriarchal hierarchy that allows the men in power to dictate how women should live their lives and what roles they must play. Religion comes into this as another added layer of conformity, acting as a weapon to further exploit people by keeping their desires in check while serving as a dead end to discussions that challenges these age-old beliefs. Soozandeh also lays bare the hypocrisy surrounding sex in conservative society, showing religion to be the first thing to go when it comes to pleasures of the flesh. On an overall scale, Tehran Taboo is a brilliantly directed, beautifully animated & strongly acted cinema that explores sexual & gender double standards in modern Iran, resulting from its strict religious codes, and is a cry for a long overdue social, cultural & political change. An essential viewing that deserves a broader audience, Tehran Taboo is heavy-handed at times but its thought-provoking themes strike a chord that transcends borders.
The most realistic narrated movie about Iran!
It's the most realistic narrated movie about Iran and our crap regime... Of course its visual and some things about it can be more realistic and much more beautiful but there are lots of things in it that history must to know about! By the way it's an adult oriented movie and not a family movie, be careful there are lots of inappropriate stuff in it for children like sex, abortion, porn, drugs, adultery, suicide, prostitution, strong language... I'm saying that because it's an animation and can 'cos misunderstanding sometimes. It's a really suffocating experience to live in Iran. it's good to know that people from other countries know about it and care about it, they can see it in these kinda movies and try to avoid it in their countries, I mean don't let Islam or any other religion ruin your country like ours...!
a manifesto
...one of the most powerful and provocative and useful. Its subject - the freedom. Not only in Iran but as escape from hypocrisy, fear, pressures and fear. Lives . And decisions controlling aspects defining them. Great animation, solid stories, special manner to explore the near reality. And tools for defining it. At first sigh, a film against oppression of religion. In essence, a pledge for accept the rights of the other. Well crafted, it remains a time in memory for the atmosphere. And for the clear, honest message.
Life in Iran at its most despicable
"Tehran Taboo" is an Austrian/German co-production from this year (2017) and this is the most known career effort so far by writer and director Ali Soozandeh. Given the subject, I am not surprised at all that this film that runs for slightly over 1.5 hours has managed to score some awards attention already, also in Cannes. This is about life in the Iranian capital of Tehran in the present and it's a really dark and shocking depiction. Oh yeah, I also need to say that this movie is animated from start to finish. The focus here is on a group of people and their (not so) every day life. We have a mother working as a prostitute who tries to get his mute son a normal life, but obstacles from school and authorities make it hard for her. We have a pregnant woman whose man cheats on her and who has had several miscarriages already. We have an aspiring musician who takes a girl's virginity and tries his best to make it possible for her to have an operation that won't let her fiancé find out about what happened. One of the film's strengths is that it does really well in terms of shades. Even as these characters I just described may be ahead of their country's limited progress in terms of equality, they still are far from perfect. That phone joke basically costs the innocent woman her life. The young guy made the girl drunk, drugged her even. The girl lied about the real reason for the operation. Even the little boy causes severe damage by telling the old man where to find the candy. They may not be rotten or evil or anything, but they are all far from angels. The bearded man is the best example of how the country keeps the progressive ones on the leash. He gives the woman the apartment, he gives her some money, but he also does not give her the documents/signatures she needs although it is his job to do so. And in the end what he does to her is close to rape showing us that he will always be the one in charge. That's a nice metaphor and the film has others too that work pretty well like the recurring themes of the lights up there that are explained in the final scene or the kittens or the photographer etc. From that perspective, the movie really has a lot to offer. Overall, it is definitely among the best animated films I have seen from 2017. Unsurprisingly though, it will not be a contender at the Oscars in the Animated Feature category. A bit of a shame as I could have seen it make some waves. Of course with all the violence and sex, it is an animated film exclusively for grown-ups (not an adult film though obviously). I am not surprised the director worked on The Green Wave as an animator. To me the film seemed a bit similar to Waltz with Bashir in terms of the overall contents, but also in terms of the atmosphere, even if war does not really play a big role in here. Finally, to end the review on a positive note, I would like to say that the ways in which the younger generation is depicted here offers room for hope that things could turn better in the next 50 years. We'll see if they will. Still its depiction of brutal reality would get the movie banned within an instant in Iran I am sure. It's a very depressing watch and it should also have us question the dominant religion and its approach to female rights in particular. They are treated worse than animals frequently to be honest and we should keep that in mind the next time we complain about sexism here in the Western World. Over there is where things are really rotten. But I am not surprised that Soozandeh did not make faith a crucial component of this film. It fits in well with the general approach these days when it comes to looking away and over-the-top tolerance. Anyway, enough of that. I recommend the watch of course. This was a very intelligent and important movie. If you like stuff like the aforementioned Walth with Bashir or Panahi's Taxi, then see this one here too.
An explanation for many of the world's problems?
A powerful film that leaves the viewer completely appalled at the end. Rotoscoping is ideally suited to this film by allowing the viewer to focus on the action and dialogues without being distracted by the details of untransformed images. This lets the viewer realize how religions, especially that which prevails in Iran and elsewhere, have been invented to control people, especially women. In Tehran Taboo, religion is clearly exposed as a catalyst used by criminally insane authorities to facilitate their crimes. Made me glad to be an atheist.