The Salesman Review

June, 2018

The Salesman without a doubt is Asghar Farhahi’s best film ever. The latest film from the director of ‘A Separation' and 'About Elly' had been arranged in a neat and tidy way. The depth in its frame is unbelievably engrossing. its drama is absolutely unique.
Asghar Faradi’s sixth movie is the most western film from Iran which exposes pressure points in the Iranian society in a mysterious way. It tears an ugly page from a life of a young Iranian couple. After their flat in Tehran Collapsed, Emad (Shahab Hosseini) and his wife Rana (Taraneh Alidosti), temporarily move into a friend’s apartment and then Rana is assaulted there. The attack drives them into the ground physically and emotionally and changes their lives by creating tension between them.
At first the Salesman reminds us of ' Fireworks Wednesday’, Farhadi’s first film, but soon it moves into different territories. The story starts with an unexpected opening scene where a building collapses, and residents rushing out of the building. The film’s devasting opening with its handheld shooting technique captures the audience's attention from the beginning.
As the film goes on, the pace drops and the audience get an opportunity to know the main characters. Emad is a very kind teacher who tries to teach his students how to be generous and forgive easily, but it’s all before he gets involved in a social disaster. A disease which will destroy his honour in a society that have a traditional view on rape and the rapist. A society that always blames women for men’s sexual misconduct.
The salesman is talking about a kind of middle class tragedy of manners. Emad’s attempt for revenge seems complicated. He is thirsty for the truth, but Rana is trying not to make the situation worse in order to keep her family’s honour.
The strength of the Salesman like other Farhadi’s films is its accurate screenplay which is designed intelligently and perfectly. He knows that anything can happen as long as his film has a good tale to tell. Farhahi’s brilliant story attracts the audience by drawing them deeper into the moral confrontation between the characters.
 
In Farhadi’s previous films we used to see many characters who had full presence and the account of the story relied on all of them, but in the Salesman we are following the story through Emad as the main character. Perhaps Emad is the most admirable character in the Salesman.
The Salesman transcends categorization, although some may call it a social or psychological film. Because there is a social realism in the film and also the psychology of retribution is important in the main character’s behaviours.
The movie shows how powerful storyteller Asghar Farhadi is. In his film every shot is in place, every scene is neat and all actors perform so effortlessly and unflinchingly. The way Farhadi catches the audience can only be called suspense.