Director Asghar Farhadi intended to study cinema in college, but he was assigned to the theater school instead. In his latest film, the prominent Iranian filmmaker fuses the cinema and the stage in THE SALESMAN, a film that overtly references Arthur Miller’s pioneering work, Death of a Salesman.
The film centers on Rana and Emad, a married couple. They are both actors, currently playing Willy and Linda Loman in a production of Death of a Salesman. Though they are not wealthy, their jobs as actors make them superior to their peers in other ways. They are creative and urban. That vision of themselves is shattered after a violent assault on Rana, and Emad decides to pursue justice himself.
What follows is not a series of events American audiences are used to. Though the film is filled with tension and drama, Farhadi’s theater background keeps us firmly grounded with the characters and their emotional and psychological states.
In an interview Farhadi states, “What I try to keep alive in myself is a sense of empathy for the characters in my films. If we were to summarize all of my films and have to come up with just one word, I would choose the word empathy.”
THE SALESMAN, this year’s Oscar winner for Best Foreign Film, is a tour de force. The director’s empathy with his flawed characters is evident, and that understanding is channeled to the audience.
— Diana Martinez, Film Streams Education Director
