Son-Mother

As the title suggests, women’s-rights activist Mahnaz Mohammadi’s compelling family drama is split into two parts, with the first act looking at an insoluble religious/societal problem in present-day Iran from a mother’s point of view and the second act considering it from her adolescent son’s viewpoint. A widow with two children, Leila (Raha Khodayari) is laid off from her factory job and is soon desperate for money. Bus driver Kazem, a widower, wants to marry her, but there is one awful catch: tradition forbids Leila’s son and Kazem’s adolescent daughter from sharing a living space. So Leila is faced with a heartbreaking choice…

‘Nasiri is remarkable as the boy at the centre of it all, a child who is withdrawing into himself in the absence of reliable, consistent adult protection… Khodayari is also strong in a polar opposite role, which sees her wrestle with a storm of conflicting emotions… What Mohammadi and writer Mohammad Rasoulof are really interested in is the bond that unites the two, and there’s a suggestion that the strain placed on this bond symbolises a much deeper malaise in Iranian society.’—Jennie Kermode, Eye for Film