Darius Mehrjui
Encyclopedia
Dariush Mehrju'i also spelled as Mehrjui, Mehrjoui, and Mehrjuyi, is an Iranian director
, screenwriter
, producer
, and film editor.
Mehrjui was a founding member of the Iranian New Wave movement of the early 1970s. His second film Gaav
is considered to be the first film of this movement, which also included Masoud Kimiai
and Nasser Taqvai. Most of his films are inspired by literature and adapted from Iranian and foreign novels and plays.
s, music, and playing santoor
and piano. He spent a lot of time going to the movies, particularly American films which were un-dubbed and inter-spliced with explanatory title cards that explained the plot throughout the films. At this time Mehrjui started to learn English so as to better enjoy the films. The film that had the strongest impact on him as a child was Vittorio De Sica
's Bicycle Thieves
. At the age of 12 Mehrjui built a 35mm projector, rented two-reel films and began selling tickets to his neighborhood friends. Although raised in a religious household, Mehrjui has said that at the age of 15 "the face of God gradually became a little hazy for me, and I lost my faith."
In 1959, Mehrjui moved to the United States to study at University of California, Los Angeles
' (UCLA) Department of Cinema
. One of his teachers there was Jean Renoir
, whom Mehrjui credited for teaching him how to work with actors. Mehrjui was dissatisfied with the film program due to its emphasis on the technical aspects of film and the quality of most of the teachers. Mehrjui has said of his educators that "they wouldn't teach you anything very significant...because the teachers were the kind of people who had not been able to make it in Hollywood themselves...[and would] bring the rotten atmosphere of Hollywood to the class and impose it on us." He switched his major to philosophy
and graduated from UCLA in 1964.
Mehrjui started his own literary magazine in 1964, Pars Review. The magazine's intention was to bring contemporary Persian literature to western readers. During this time he wrote his first script with the intention of filming it in Iran. He moved back to Tehran in 1965.
Back in Tehran, Mehrjui found employment as a journalist and screenwriter. From 1966 to 1968 he was a teacher at Tehran's Center for Foreign Language Studies, where he taught classes in literature and English language. He also gave lectures on films and literature at the Center for Audiovisual Studies through the University of Tehran
.
film series. The film was not financially successful. But his second feature film, Gaav
, brought him national and international recognition. Gaav, a symbolic drama, is about a simple villager and his nearly mythical attachment to his cow.
The film is adapted from a short story by renowned Iranian literary figure Gholamhossein Sa’edi. Sa’edi was a friend of Mehrjui and suggested the idea to him when
Mehrjui was looking for a suitable second film, and they collaborated on the script. Through Sa’edi, Mehrjui met the actors Ezzatolah Entezami and Ali Nassirian
, who were performing in one of Sa’edi's plays. Mehrjui would work with Entezami and Nassirian throughout his career. The film's score was composed by musician Hormoz Farhat
. The film was completed in 1969.
In the film, Entezami stars as Masht Hassan, a peasant in an isolated village in southern Iran. Hassan has a close relationship with his cow, which is his only possession (Mehrjui has said that Entezami even resembled a cow in the film). When other people from Hassan's village discover that the cow has been mysteriously killed, they decide to bury the cow and tell Hassan thatit has run away. While in mourning for the cow, Hassan goes to the barn where it was kept and begins to assume the cow's identity. When his friends attempt to take him to a hospital, Hassan commits suicide.
Gaav was banned for over a year by the Ministry of Culture and Arts, despite being one of the first two film in Iran to receive government funding. This was most likely due to Sa’edi being a controversial figure in Iran. His work was highly critical of the Pahlavi government
and he had been arrested sixteen times. When it was finally released in 1970, it was highly praised and won an award at the Ministry of Culture's film festival, but it was still denied an export permit. In 1971, the film was smuggled out of Iran and submitted to the Venice Film Festival
where, without programming or subtitles, it became the largest event of that year’s festival. It won the International Critics Award at Venice, and later that year Entezami won the Best Actor Award at the Chicago International Film Festival
.
Along with Masoud Kimiai
's Qeysar
and Nasser Taqvai's Calm in Front of Others, Gaav initiated the Iranian New Wave movement and is considered a turning point in the history of Iranian cinema. The public received it with great enthusiasm, despite the fact that it had ignored all the traditional elements of box office attraction. It was screened internationally and received high praise from many film critics. Several of Iran's prominent actors (Entezami, Nassirian, Jamshid Mashayekhi
, and Jafar Vali) played roles in the film.
While waiting for Gaav to be released and gaining international recognition, Mehrjui was busy directing two more films. In 1970 he shot Agha-ye Hallou (Mr. Naive), a comedy which starred and was written by Ali Nassirian. Mehrjui had said that "after all the censorship problems with Gaav, [he] wanted to do a no-problem film." The film also starred Fakhri Khorvash and Entezami.
In the film, Nassirian plays a simple, naive villager who goes to Tehran to find a wife. While in the big city he is treated roughly and constantly fooled by local hustlers and con artists. When he goes into a dress shop to purchase a wedding gown, he meets a beautiful young woman (Fakhri Khorvash) and proposes to her. The young woman turns out to be a prostitute who rejects him and takes his money, spending him back to his village empty handed but more world-wise.
Agha-ye Hallou was screened at the Sepas Film Festival in Tehran in 1971 where it won awards for Best Film and Best Director. Later that year it was screened at the Moscow Film Festival. It was a commercial success in Iran.
After finishing Agha-ye Hallou in 1970, Mehrjui traveled to Berkeley, California
and began writing an adaptation of Georg Büchner
's Woyzeck
for a modern day Iranian setting. He went back to Iran later in 1970 to shoot Postchi (The Postman), which starred Nassirian, Entezami and Jaleh Sam.
In the film, Nassirian plays Taghi, a miserable civil servant whose life spirals into chaos. He spends his days as an unhappy mail carrier and has two night jobs in order to pay his debts. His misery has caused impotence and he is experimented upon by an amateur herbalist who is one of his employers. His only naive hope is that he will win the national lottery. When he discovers that his wife is the mistress of his town's wealthiest landowner, Taghi escapes to the local forest where he experiences a brief moment of peace and harmony. His wife comes looking for him, and in a fit of rage Taghi murders her and is eventually caught for his crime.
Postchi faced the same censorship issues as Gaav, but was eventually released in 1972. It was screened in Iran at the 1st Tehran International Film Festival and at the Sepas Film festival. Internationally it was screened at the Venice Film Festival
, where it received a special mention, the 22nd Berlin International Film Festival
, where it received the Interfilm Award, and the 1972 Cannes Film Festival
, where it was screened as part of the Directors' Fortnight
.
Mehrjui got the idea for the film when a friend suggest that he investigate the black market and illicit blood traffic in Iran. Horrified with what he found, Mehrjui took the idea to Gholamhossein Sa’edi, who previously had written a play on the subject, "Aashghaal-duni". The original play became the basis for the script, which then had to be approved by the Ministry of Culture before production could begin. With pressure from the Iranian medical community, approval was delayed for a year until Mehrjui began shooting the film in 1974. The film stars Saeed Kangarani, Esmail Mohammadi, Ezzatollah Entezami, Ali Nassirian
and Fourouzan.
In the film, Kangarani plays Ali, a teenager who has brought his dying father (Mohammadi) to Tehran in order to find medical treatment. They are too poor to afford any help from the local hospital, but Dr. Sameri (Entezami) offers them money in exchange for giving illegal and unsafe blood donations at a local blood bank. Ali begins giving blood and eventually works for Dr. Sameri in luring blood donors, despite spreading diseases in the process. Ali meets another doctor (Nassirian) who is attempting to establish a legitimate blood bank, and helps Dr. Sameri in sabotaging his plans. Ali also meets and becomes the lover of a young nurse, played by Fourouzan. As Ali becomes more and more involved in the illegal blood trafficking, his father's health worsens until he finally dies and Ali must decide what path his life will take. The films title, Dayereh mina, refers to a line from a poem by Hafiz Shirazi: "Because of the cycle of the universe, my heart is bleeding."
The film was co-sponsored by the Ministry of Culture but encountered opposition from the Iranian medical establishment and was banned for three years. It was finally released in 1977, with help from pressure from the Carter administration to increase human rights and intellectual freedoms in Iran. Because of a crowded film marketplace, the film premiered first in Paris, and then internationally where it received rave reviews and was compared to Luis Buñuel
's Los Olvidados
and Pier Paolo Pasolini
's Accattone
. The film won the Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique
Prize at the Berlin Film Festival in 1978.
During this time, Iran
was going through great political changes. The events leading up to the Iranian Revolution of 1979
were causing a gradual loosening of strict censorship laws, which Mehrjui and other artists had great hopes for.
While waiting for The Cycle to be released, Mehrjui worked on several documentaries. Alamut, a documentary on the Isamailis, was commissioned by Iranian National Television in 1974. He was also commissioned by the Iranian Blood Transfusion Center to create three short documentaries about safe and healthy blood donations. The films were used by the World Health Organization in several countries for years. In 1978, the Iranian Ministry of Health commissioned Mehrjui to make the documentary Peyvast kolieh, about kidney transplants.
had been ongoing since 1977 through strikes and demonstrations. The Iran's monarchy
collapsed on February 11, 1979 when guerrillas and rebel troops overwhelmed troops loyal to the Shah
in armed street fighting. Iran voted by national referendum
to become an Islamic Republic on April 1, 1979, and to approve a new theocratic constitution
whereby Khomeini became Supreme Leader
of the country, in December 1979.
Mehrjui has stated that he "enthusiastically took part in the revolution, shooting miles of reels of its daily events." After the revolution, the censorship of the Pahlavi regime was lifted and for a time artistic freedom seemed to flourish in the country. It was reported that the Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini
saw Gaav
on Iranian television and liked it, calling it "very instructive" and commissioning new prints to be made for distribution. However the Khomeini government would go on to impose its own rules for censorship in Iran, specifically laws that were in accordance to Islamic law
. It was also required that a government official be present during the shooting of all films.
Mehrjui then directed Hayat-e Poshti Madrese-ye Adl-e Afagh (The School We Went to in 1980. The film stars Ezzatollah Entezami and Ali Nassirian
and is from a story by Fereydoon Doostdar. The film was sponsored by the Iranian Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, whose filmmaking department was co-founded by Abbas Kiarostami
. The film, seen as an allegory for the recent revolution, is about a group of high school students who join forces and rebel against their authoritative and abusive school principle. Film critic Hagir Daryoush criticized both the film and Mehrjui as propaganda and a work of the new regime more than Mehrjui himself.
In 1981, Mehrjui and his family traveled to Paris
and remained there for several years, along with several other Iranian refugees in France. During this time he made a feature-length semi-documentary about the poet Arthur Rimbaud
for French TV, Voyage au Pays de Rimbaud in 1983. It was shown at the 1983 Venice Film Festival
and at the 1983 London Film Festival
In 1985, Mehrjui and his family returned to Iran and Mehrjui resumed his film career under the new regime.
In Hamoun
(1990), a portrait of an intellectual whose life is falling apart, Mehrjui sought to depict his generation's post-revolutionary turn from politics to mysticism. Hamoon was voted the best Iranian film ever by readers and contributors to the Iranian journal Film Monthly.
In 1995, Mehrjui made Pari
, an unauthorized loose film adaptation of J. D. Salinger
's book Franny and Zooey
. Though the film could be distributed legally in Iran since the country has no official copyright relations with the United States, Salinger had his lawyers block a planned screening of the film at Lincoln Center in 1998. Mehrjui called Salinger's action "bewildering," explaining that he saw his film as "a kind of cultural exchange." His follow-up film, 1997's Leila
, is a melodrama about an urban, upper-middle-class couple who learn that the wife is unable to bear children.
Mehrjui's upcoming movie is Rumi%27s Kimia (film), starring Golshifteh Farahani
and based on a novel, Kimia Khatoon, by Saideh Ghods.
and Satyajit Ray
, but he also added something distinctively Iranian, in the process starting one of the greatest modern film waves.
The one constant in Mehrjui's work has been his attention to the discontents of contemporary, primarily urban, Iran. His film The Pear Tree (1999) has been hailed as the apotheosis of the director's examination of the Iranian bourgeoisie
.
Since his film The Cow in 1969, Mehrjui, along with Nasser Taghvaee
and Masoud Kimiai
, has been instrumental in paving the way for the Iranian cinematic renaissance, so called the "Iranian New Wave."
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
, and film editor.
Mehrjui was a founding member of the Iranian New Wave movement of the early 1970s. His second film Gaav
Gaav
The Cow is a 1969 Iranian film directed by Dariush Mehrjui, written by Gholam-Hossein Saedi based on his own play and novel, and starring Ezatolah Entezami as Masht Hassan. Some believe that "New Wave" of Persian cinema emerged after this film.-Plot:...
is considered to be the first film of this movement, which also included Masoud Kimiai
Masoud Kimiai
Masoud Kimiai is an Iranian director, screenwriter and producer. He was born in 1941 in Tehran, Iran.- Biography :Kimiai started his career as an assistant director and made his debut, Come Stranger, in 1968. With his second film, Kaiser , he and Dariush Mehrjui with The film Cow, caused a...
and Nasser Taqvai. Most of his films are inspired by literature and adapted from Iranian and foreign novels and plays.
Early life and education
Dariush Mehrjui was born to a middle class family in Tehran. He showed interest in painting miniaturePersian miniature
A Persian miniature is a small painting on paper, whether a book illustration or a separate work of art intended to be kept in an album of such works called a muraqqa. The techniques are broadly comparable to the Western and Byzantine traditions of miniatures in illuminated manuscripts...
s, music, and playing santoor
Santoor
The santoor is an ancient stringed musical instrument, native to Kashmir and Iran. It is a trapezoid-shaped hammered dulcimer often made of walnut, with seventy two strings. The special-shaped mallets are lightweight and are held between the index and middle fingers...
and piano. He spent a lot of time going to the movies, particularly American films which were un-dubbed and inter-spliced with explanatory title cards that explained the plot throughout the films. At this time Mehrjui started to learn English so as to better enjoy the films. The film that had the strongest impact on him as a child was Vittorio De Sica
Vittorio de Sica
Vittorio De Sica was an Italian director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement....
's Bicycle Thieves
Bicycle Thieves
Bicycle Thieves , also known as The Bicycle Thief, is a 1948 Italian neorealist film directed by Vittorio De Sica. It tells the story of a poor man searching the streets of Rome for his stolen bicycle, which he needs to be able to work. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Luigi...
. At the age of 12 Mehrjui built a 35mm projector, rented two-reel films and began selling tickets to his neighborhood friends. Although raised in a religious household, Mehrjui has said that at the age of 15 "the face of God gradually became a little hazy for me, and I lost my faith."
In 1959, Mehrjui moved to the United States to study at University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
' (UCLA) Department of Cinema
UCLA School of Theater Film and Television
The UCLA School of Theatre, Film, and Television , is one of the twelve schools within UCLA. It is located in Los Angeles, California, USA, and is unique in that it combines all three of these aspects into a single school. The graduate programs are usually ranking within the top 3 nationally,...
. One of his teachers there was Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent era to the end of the 1960s...
, whom Mehrjui credited for teaching him how to work with actors. Mehrjui was dissatisfied with the film program due to its emphasis on the technical aspects of film and the quality of most of the teachers. Mehrjui has said of his educators that "they wouldn't teach you anything very significant...because the teachers were the kind of people who had not been able to make it in Hollywood themselves...[and would] bring the rotten atmosphere of Hollywood to the class and impose it on us." He switched his major to philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and graduated from UCLA in 1964.
Mehrjui started his own literary magazine in 1964, Pars Review. The magazine's intention was to bring contemporary Persian literature to western readers. During this time he wrote his first script with the intention of filming it in Iran. He moved back to Tehran in 1965.
Back in Tehran, Mehrjui found employment as a journalist and screenwriter. From 1966 to 1968 he was a teacher at Tehran's Center for Foreign Language Studies, where he taught classes in literature and English language. He also gave lectures on films and literature at the Center for Audiovisual Studies through the University of Tehran
University of Tehran
The University of Tehran , also known as Tehran University and UT, is Iran's oldest university. Located in Tehran, the university is among the most prestigious in the country, and is consistently selected as the first choice of many applicants in the annual nationwide entrance exam for top Iranian...
.
Early Film Career 1966-1972
Dariush Mehrjui made his debut in 1966 with Diamond 33, a big budget parody of the James BondJames Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
film series. The film was not financially successful. But his second feature film, Gaav
Gaav
The Cow is a 1969 Iranian film directed by Dariush Mehrjui, written by Gholam-Hossein Saedi based on his own play and novel, and starring Ezatolah Entezami as Masht Hassan. Some believe that "New Wave" of Persian cinema emerged after this film.-Plot:...
, brought him national and international recognition. Gaav, a symbolic drama, is about a simple villager and his nearly mythical attachment to his cow.
The film is adapted from a short story by renowned Iranian literary figure Gholamhossein Sa’edi. Sa’edi was a friend of Mehrjui and suggested the idea to him when
Mehrjui was looking for a suitable second film, and they collaborated on the script. Through Sa’edi, Mehrjui met the actors Ezzatolah Entezami and Ali Nassirian
Ali Nassirian
Ali Nassirian is an Iranian film and theater actor, respected for both character and leading roles.-Acting career:He first appeared in a supporting role in Dariush Mehrjui's The Cow , which was also the first film of Ezatollah Entezami, another famous Iranian actor. Nasirian then shined in the...
, who were performing in one of Sa’edi's plays. Mehrjui would work with Entezami and Nassirian throughout his career. The film's score was composed by musician Hormoz Farhat
Hormoz Farhat
Hormoz Farhat Born 1929 Tehran, is a significant Iranian composer, ethnomusicologist and University lecturer.- Musical career :...
. The film was completed in 1969.
In the film, Entezami stars as Masht Hassan, a peasant in an isolated village in southern Iran. Hassan has a close relationship with his cow, which is his only possession (Mehrjui has said that Entezami even resembled a cow in the film). When other people from Hassan's village discover that the cow has been mysteriously killed, they decide to bury the cow and tell Hassan thatit has run away. While in mourning for the cow, Hassan goes to the barn where it was kept and begins to assume the cow's identity. When his friends attempt to take him to a hospital, Hassan commits suicide.
Gaav was banned for over a year by the Ministry of Culture and Arts, despite being one of the first two film in Iran to receive government funding. This was most likely due to Sa’edi being a controversial figure in Iran. His work was highly critical of the Pahlavi government
Pahlavi dynasty
The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of two Iranian/Persian monarchs, father and son Reza Shah Pahlavi and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of two Iranian/Persian monarchs, father and son Reza Shah Pahlavi (reg. 1925–1941) and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi The Pahlavi dynasty ...
and he had been arrested sixteen times. When it was finally released in 1970, it was highly praised and won an award at the Ministry of Culture's film festival, but it was still denied an export permit. In 1971, the film was smuggled out of Iran and submitted to the Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
where, without programming or subtitles, it became the largest event of that year’s festival. It won the International Critics Award at Venice, and later that year Entezami won the Best Actor Award at the Chicago International Film Festival
Chicago International Film Festival
The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America....
.
Along with Masoud Kimiai
Masoud Kimiai
Masoud Kimiai is an Iranian director, screenwriter and producer. He was born in 1941 in Tehran, Iran.- Biography :Kimiai started his career as an assistant director and made his debut, Come Stranger, in 1968. With his second film, Kaiser , he and Dariush Mehrjui with The film Cow, caused a...
's Qeysar
Qeysar (film)
Qeysar ,also written as Gheisar, Kaiser and Gheysar, is a 1969 film by acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Masoud Kimiai. The film was considered a turning point in Iranian cinema and brought out a new trend...
and Nasser Taqvai's Calm in Front of Others, Gaav initiated the Iranian New Wave movement and is considered a turning point in the history of Iranian cinema. The public received it with great enthusiasm, despite the fact that it had ignored all the traditional elements of box office attraction. It was screened internationally and received high praise from many film critics. Several of Iran's prominent actors (Entezami, Nassirian, Jamshid Mashayekhi
Jamshid Mashayekhi
Jamshid Mashayekhi is a celebrated Iranian actor and an iconic figure of Iranian cinema.-Career:Mashayekhi began professional acting on stage in 1957. His first feature film role was Brick and Mirror. After a four-year break, he acted in The Cow and Kaiser...
, and Jafar Vali) played roles in the film.
While waiting for Gaav to be released and gaining international recognition, Mehrjui was busy directing two more films. In 1970 he shot Agha-ye Hallou (Mr. Naive), a comedy which starred and was written by Ali Nassirian. Mehrjui had said that "after all the censorship problems with Gaav, [he] wanted to do a no-problem film." The film also starred Fakhri Khorvash and Entezami.
In the film, Nassirian plays a simple, naive villager who goes to Tehran to find a wife. While in the big city he is treated roughly and constantly fooled by local hustlers and con artists. When he goes into a dress shop to purchase a wedding gown, he meets a beautiful young woman (Fakhri Khorvash) and proposes to her. The young woman turns out to be a prostitute who rejects him and takes his money, spending him back to his village empty handed but more world-wise.
Agha-ye Hallou was screened at the Sepas Film Festival in Tehran in 1971 where it won awards for Best Film and Best Director. Later that year it was screened at the Moscow Film Festival. It was a commercial success in Iran.
After finishing Agha-ye Hallou in 1970, Mehrjui traveled to Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
and began writing an adaptation of Georg Büchner
Georg Büchner
Karl Georg Büchner was a German dramatist and writer of poetry and prose. He was the brother of physician and philosopher Ludwig Büchner. Büchner's talent is generally held in great esteem in Germany...
's Woyzeck
Woyzeck
Woyzeck is a stage play written by Georg Büchner. He left the work incomplete at his death, but it has been variously and posthumously "finished" by a variety of authors, editors and translators. Woyzeck has become one of the most performed and influential plays in the German theatre...
for a modern day Iranian setting. He went back to Iran later in 1970 to shoot Postchi (The Postman), which starred Nassirian, Entezami and Jaleh Sam.
In the film, Nassirian plays Taghi, a miserable civil servant whose life spirals into chaos. He spends his days as an unhappy mail carrier and has two night jobs in order to pay his debts. His misery has caused impotence and he is experimented upon by an amateur herbalist who is one of his employers. His only naive hope is that he will win the national lottery. When he discovers that his wife is the mistress of his town's wealthiest landowner, Taghi escapes to the local forest where he experiences a brief moment of peace and harmony. His wife comes looking for him, and in a fit of rage Taghi murders her and is eventually caught for his crime.
Postchi faced the same censorship issues as Gaav, but was eventually released in 1972. It was screened in Iran at the 1st Tehran International Film Festival and at the Sepas Film festival. Internationally it was screened at the Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
, where it received a special mention, the 22nd Berlin International Film Festival
22nd Berlin International Film Festival
The 22nd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 23 June to 4 July 1972.-Jury:* Eleanor Perry * Fritz Drobilitsch-Walden* Francis Cosne* Rita Tushingham* Tinto Brass* Yukichi Shinada* Julio Coll* Hans Hellmut Kirst...
, where it received the Interfilm Award, and the 1972 Cannes Film Festival
1972 Cannes Film Festival
- Jury :*Joseph Losey *Bibi Andersson *Georges Auric *Erskine Caldwell *Mark Donskoi *Miloš Forman *Giorgio Papi *Jean Rochereau *Alain Tanner...
, where it was screened as part of the Directors' Fortnight
Directors' Fortnight
Directors' Fortnight is an independent section held in parallel to the Cannes Film Festival. The section was created in 1969 after the events of May 1968, in which the Cannes festival was canceled in solidarity with striking workers....
.
The Cycle 1973-1978
In 1973 Mehrjui began directing what was to be his most acclaimed film, The CycleThe Cycle
The Cycle is a 1975 Iranian film directed by Dariush Mehrjui. It was Iran's submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 50th Academy Awards, the first year that Iran participated in the award...
Mehrjui got the idea for the film when a friend suggest that he investigate the black market and illicit blood traffic in Iran. Horrified with what he found, Mehrjui took the idea to Gholamhossein Sa’edi, who previously had written a play on the subject, "Aashghaal-duni". The original play became the basis for the script, which then had to be approved by the Ministry of Culture before production could begin. With pressure from the Iranian medical community, approval was delayed for a year until Mehrjui began shooting the film in 1974. The film stars Saeed Kangarani, Esmail Mohammadi, Ezzatollah Entezami, Ali Nassirian
Ali Nassirian
Ali Nassirian is an Iranian film and theater actor, respected for both character and leading roles.-Acting career:He first appeared in a supporting role in Dariush Mehrjui's The Cow , which was also the first film of Ezatollah Entezami, another famous Iranian actor. Nasirian then shined in the...
and Fourouzan.
In the film, Kangarani plays Ali, a teenager who has brought his dying father (Mohammadi) to Tehran in order to find medical treatment. They are too poor to afford any help from the local hospital, but Dr. Sameri (Entezami) offers them money in exchange for giving illegal and unsafe blood donations at a local blood bank. Ali begins giving blood and eventually works for Dr. Sameri in luring blood donors, despite spreading diseases in the process. Ali meets another doctor (Nassirian) who is attempting to establish a legitimate blood bank, and helps Dr. Sameri in sabotaging his plans. Ali also meets and becomes the lover of a young nurse, played by Fourouzan. As Ali becomes more and more involved in the illegal blood trafficking, his father's health worsens until he finally dies and Ali must decide what path his life will take. The films title, Dayereh mina, refers to a line from a poem by Hafiz Shirazi: "Because of the cycle of the universe, my heart is bleeding."
The film was co-sponsored by the Ministry of Culture but encountered opposition from the Iranian medical establishment and was banned for three years. It was finally released in 1977, with help from pressure from the Carter administration to increase human rights and intellectual freedoms in Iran. Because of a crowded film marketplace, the film premiered first in Paris, and then internationally where it received rave reviews and was compared to Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés was a Spanish-born filmmaker — later a naturalized citizen of Mexico — who worked in Spain, Mexico, France and the US..-Early years:...
's Los Olvidados
Los olvidados
Los Olvidados is a 1950 Mexican film directed by Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel....
and Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini was an Italian film director, poet, writer, and intellectual. Pasolini distinguished himself as a poet, journalist, philosopher, linguist, novelist, playwright, filmmaker, newspaper and magazine columnist, actor, painter and political figure...
's Accattone
Accattone
Accattone is a 1961 Italian drama film written and directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. Despite being filmed from an original screenplay, academics perceive Accattone as a cinematic rendition of Pasolini's earlier novels, particularly Boys of Life and A Violent Life...
. The film won the Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique
FIPRESCI
The International Federation of Film Critics is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world for "the promotion and development of film culture and for the safeguarding of professional interests." It was founded in June 1930 in...
Prize at the Berlin Film Festival in 1978.
During this time, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
was going through great political changes. The events leading up to the Iranian Revolution of 1979
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
were causing a gradual loosening of strict censorship laws, which Mehrjui and other artists had great hopes for.
While waiting for The Cycle to be released, Mehrjui worked on several documentaries. Alamut, a documentary on the Isamailis, was commissioned by Iranian National Television in 1974. He was also commissioned by the Iranian Blood Transfusion Center to create three short documentaries about safe and healthy blood donations. The films were used by the World Health Organization in several countries for years. In 1978, the Iranian Ministry of Health commissioned Mehrjui to make the documentary Peyvast kolieh, about kidney transplants.
Film Career after the Iranian Revolution 1979- present
The Iranian RevolutionIranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
had been ongoing since 1977 through strikes and demonstrations. The Iran's monarchy
Pahlavi dynasty
The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of two Iranian/Persian monarchs, father and son Reza Shah Pahlavi and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of two Iranian/Persian monarchs, father and son Reza Shah Pahlavi (reg. 1925–1941) and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi The Pahlavi dynasty ...
collapsed on February 11, 1979 when guerrillas and rebel troops overwhelmed troops loyal to the Shah
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, Shah of Persia , ruled Iran from 16 September 1941 until his overthrow by the Iranian Revolution on 11 February 1979...
in armed street fighting. Iran voted by national referendum
Iranian Islamic Republic referendum, March 1979
A referendum on creating an Islamic Republic was held in Iran on 30 and 31 March 1979. It was approved by 99.3% of voters.-Results:...
to become an Islamic Republic on April 1, 1979, and to approve a new theocratic constitution
Constitution of Islamic Republic of Iran
The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran was adopted by referendum on October 24, 1979, and went into force on December 3 of that year, replacing the Constitution of 1906. It was amended on July 28, 1989. The constitution has been called a "hybrid" of "authoritarian, theocratic and...
whereby Khomeini became Supreme Leader
Supreme Leader of Iran
The Supreme Leader of Iran is the highest ranking political and religious authority in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The post was established by the constitution in accordance with the concept of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists...
of the country, in December 1979.
Mehrjui has stated that he "enthusiastically took part in the revolution, shooting miles of reels of its daily events." After the revolution, the censorship of the Pahlavi regime was lifted and for a time artistic freedom seemed to flourish in the country. It was reported that the Ayatollah
Ayatollah
Ayatollah is a high ranking title given to Usuli Twelver Shī‘ah clerics. Those who carry the title are experts in Islamic studies such as jurisprudence, ethics, and philosophy and usually teach in Islamic seminaries. The next lower clerical rank is Hojatoleslam wal-muslemin...
Ruhollah Khomeini
Ruhollah Khomeini
Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini was an Iranian religious leader and politician, and leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution which saw the overthrow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran...
saw Gaav
Gaav
The Cow is a 1969 Iranian film directed by Dariush Mehrjui, written by Gholam-Hossein Saedi based on his own play and novel, and starring Ezatolah Entezami as Masht Hassan. Some believe that "New Wave" of Persian cinema emerged after this film.-Plot:...
on Iranian television and liked it, calling it "very instructive" and commissioning new prints to be made for distribution. However the Khomeini government would go on to impose its own rules for censorship in Iran, specifically laws that were in accordance to Islamic law
Islamic law
Islamic law can refer to:*Sharia: The code of conduct enjoined upon Muslims in the Quran*Fiqh: Muslim jurisprudence...
. It was also required that a government official be present during the shooting of all films.
Mehrjui then directed Hayat-e Poshti Madrese-ye Adl-e Afagh (The School We Went to in 1980. The film stars Ezzatollah Entezami and Ali Nassirian
Ali Nassirian
Ali Nassirian is an Iranian film and theater actor, respected for both character and leading roles.-Acting career:He first appeared in a supporting role in Dariush Mehrjui's The Cow , which was also the first film of Ezatollah Entezami, another famous Iranian actor. Nasirian then shined in the...
and is from a story by Fereydoon Doostdar. The film was sponsored by the Iranian Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, whose filmmaking department was co-founded by Abbas Kiarostami
Abbas Kiarostami
Abbas Kiarostami is an internationally acclaimed Iranian film director, screenwriter, photographer and film producer. An active filmmaker since 1970, Kiarostami has been involved in over forty films, including shorts and documentaries...
. The film, seen as an allegory for the recent revolution, is about a group of high school students who join forces and rebel against their authoritative and abusive school principle. Film critic Hagir Daryoush criticized both the film and Mehrjui as propaganda and a work of the new regime more than Mehrjui himself.
In 1981, Mehrjui and his family traveled to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and remained there for several years, along with several other Iranian refugees in France. During this time he made a feature-length semi-documentary about the poet Arthur Rimbaud
Arthur Rimbaud
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet. Born in Charleville, Ardennes, he produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and he gave up creative writing altogether before the age of 21. As part of the decadent...
for French TV, Voyage au Pays de Rimbaud in 1983. It was shown at the 1983 Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
and at the 1983 London Film Festival
London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is the UK's largest public film event, screening more than 300 features, documentaries and shorts from almost 50 countries. The festival, , currently in its 54th year, is run every year in the second half of October under the umbrella of the British Film Institute...
In 1985, Mehrjui and his family returned to Iran and Mehrjui resumed his film career under the new regime.
In Hamoun
Hamoun (film)
Hamoun is a 1990 psychological drama movie directed by Dariush Mehrjui. The movie tells the story of a middle-class Iranian – Hamid Hamoun, played by Khosro Shakibai – and his struggle after his wife demands a divorce from him.-Plot:...
(1990), a portrait of an intellectual whose life is falling apart, Mehrjui sought to depict his generation's post-revolutionary turn from politics to mysticism. Hamoon was voted the best Iranian film ever by readers and contributors to the Iranian journal Film Monthly.
In 1995, Mehrjui made Pari
Pari (film)
'Pari' is a 1995 motion picture directed by Dariush Mehrjui. The film is an unauthorized "loose" adaptation of J. D. Salinger's 1961 book Franny and Zooey...
, an unauthorized loose film adaptation of J. D. Salinger
J. D. Salinger
Jerome David Salinger was an American author, best known for his 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, as well as his reclusive nature. His last original published work was in 1965; he gave his last interview in 1980....
's book Franny and Zooey
Franny and Zooey
Franny and Zooey is a book by American author J.D. Salinger which comprises his short story, "Franny", and novella, Zooey. The two works were published together as a book in 1961; the two stories originally appeared in The New Yorker in 1955 and 1957, respectively...
. Though the film could be distributed legally in Iran since the country has no official copyright relations with the United States, Salinger had his lawyers block a planned screening of the film at Lincoln Center in 1998. Mehrjui called Salinger's action "bewildering," explaining that he saw his film as "a kind of cultural exchange." His follow-up film, 1997's Leila
Leila (film)
Leila is a 1996 Iranian film directed by Dariush Mehrjui.-Plot:Leila and Reza are a modern Iranian couple, content with their recent marriage. However, Leila learns that she is unable to conceive...
, is a melodrama about an urban, upper-middle-class couple who learn that the wife is unable to bear children.
Mehrjui's upcoming movie is Rumi%27s Kimia (film), starring Golshifteh Farahani
Golshifteh Farahani
Golshifteh Farahani is a Crystal-Simorgh winning Iranian actress and pianist.- Early life :Golshifteh Farahani was born on 10 July 1983 in Tehran, the daughter of actor/theater director Behzad Farahani and his spouse, Fahime Rahiminia and sister of actress Shaghayegh Farahani. She started studying...
and based on a novel, Kimia Khatoon, by Saideh Ghods.
Cinematic style and legacy
Modern Iranian cinema begins with Dariush Mehrjui. Mehrjui introduced realism, symbolism, and the sensibilities of art cinema. His films have some resemblance with those of Rosselini, De SicaVittorio de Sica
Vittorio De Sica was an Italian director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement....
and Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray was an Indian Bengali filmmaker. He is regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema. Ray was born in the city of Kolkata into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature...
, but he also added something distinctively Iranian, in the process starting one of the greatest modern film waves.
The one constant in Mehrjui's work has been his attention to the discontents of contemporary, primarily urban, Iran. His film The Pear Tree (1999) has been hailed as the apotheosis of the director's examination of the Iranian bourgeoisie
Bourgeoisie
In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...
.
Since his film The Cow in 1969, Mehrjui, along with Nasser Taghvaee
Nasser Taghvaee
Nāsser Taghvāí is an Iranian film director and screenwriter.Born in Abadan, Iran, he graduated from the Faculty of Literature in Tehran University. After early experiences as a storywriter, he began filming documentaries in 1967....
and Masoud Kimiai
Masoud Kimiai
Masoud Kimiai is an Iranian director, screenwriter and producer. He was born in 1941 in Tehran, Iran.- Biography :Kimiai started his career as an assistant director and made his debut, Come Stranger, in 1968. With his second film, Kaiser , he and Dariush Mehrjui with The film Cow, caused a...
, has been instrumental in paving the way for the Iranian cinematic renaissance, so called the "Iranian New Wave."
Filmography (as a director)
- Almaas 33 (aka Diamond 33), 1966
- Gaav (aka The Cow), 1969
- Agha-ye Hallou (aka Mr. Naive), 1970
- Postchi (aka The Postman), 1970
- Dayereh mina (aka The Cycle), 1975 (released in 1978)
- Hayat-e Poshti Madrese-ye Adl-e Afagh (aka The School We Went To), 1980 (released in 1986)
- Voyage au pays De Rimbaud (aka Journey to the Land of Rimbaud), 1983 (documentary in FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
) - Ejareh Nesheenha (aka The Tenants), 1986
- Shirak, 1988
- HamounHamoun (film)Hamoun is a 1990 psychological drama movie directed by Dariush Mehrjui. The movie tells the story of a middle-class Iranian – Hamid Hamoun, played by Khosro Shakibai – and his struggle after his wife demands a divorce from him.-Plot:...
, 1990 - Baanoo (aka The Lady), 1991 (released in 1998)
- SaraSara (film)Sara is a 1992 motion picture directed by Dariush Mehrjui. The film is based on Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House, with Sara in the role of Nora, Hesam in the role of Torvald, Sima in the role of Ms Linde and Goshtasb in the role of Nils Krogstad.The movie won the Audience Award at the Nantes...
, 1993 - PariPari (film)'Pari' is a 1995 motion picture directed by Dariush Mehrjui. The film is an unauthorized "loose" adaptation of J. D. Salinger's 1961 book Franny and Zooey...
, 1995 - LeilaLeila (film)Leila is a 1996 Iranian film directed by Dariush Mehrjui.-Plot:Leila and Reza are a modern Iranian couple, content with their recent marriage. However, Leila learns that she is unable to conceive...
, 1996 - Derakht-e Golabi (aka The Pear Tree), 1998
- The Mix, 2000
- Tales of an Island (segment Dear Cousin Is Lost), 2000
- BemaniTo Stay AliveTo Stay Alive is a 2002 Iranian drama film directed by Dariush Mehrjui. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival....
(aka To Stay Alive), 2002 - Mehman-e MamanMehman-e MamanMum's Guest is a 2004 Iranian family comedy film directed by Dariush Mehrjui. It is based on a book of the same name by Iranian author, Houshang Moradi Kermani. It was commissioned by Sima Film, the film studio of Iranian national broadcaster, IRIB. It did very well at the Iranian box office and...
, 2004 - SantouriSantouri (film)Santouri is a 2007 Iranian drama film directed by Dariush Mehrjui dealing with the life of a santour player named Ali Bolourchi. The film's title, "Santouri" refers to one who can play the santour instrument...
, 2007 - Tehran, Tehran, 2010
- Aseman-e mahboob, 2011
Awards
Mehrjui has received 49 national and international awards including:- Golden Seashell, San Sebastián International Film FestivalSan Sebastián International Film FestivalThe San Sebastián International Film Festival is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spanish city of San Sebastián .-History:The festival was founded in 1953...
1993. - Silver HugoHugo AwardThe Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
, Chicago International Film FestivalChicago International Film FestivalThe Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America....
1998. - Crystal SimorghCrystal SimorghThe Crystal Simorgh is the most prestigious award given by Fajr International Film Festival, Iran's major annual film festival.It is awarded in several categories of International Competition as well as Iranian Cinema Competition....
, Fajr Film Festival 2004.
External links
- Firouzan Films Iranian Movie Hall of Fame Inductee Dariush Mehrjui
- Dariush Mehrjui discusses The Cow, FirouzanFilms, 25 November 2008: YouTube (4 min 37 sec).