An Iranian Director’s Rule: ‘Always Focus on Ordinary People.’

An Iranian Director’s Rule: ‘Always Focus on Ordinary People.’

Asghar Farhadi, who has won two Oscars, says stories about the rich and famous “are not part of my emotional bank.”

NY Times -Feb 25th 2022 -by Farnaz Fassihi

Asghar Farhadi made his first film at age 13, shot with an 8-millimeter camera, about two boys who agree to share an abandoned radio on alternate days, but who then discard it because neither can listen to their favorite nightly program.

The film — which won him a new bicycle as a prize — is a story of children grappling with trivial challenges. But like all stories Mr. Farhadi has scripted and directed to wide acclaim as one of Iran’s pre-eminent filmmakers, it deployed the mundane to convey the profound.

“It is very valuable for me to always focus on ordinary people,” Mr. Farhadi, who at 49 is a two-time Oscar winner, said in an interview from Los Angeles where he was visiting from his home base in Tehran. “I don’t think my work will ever be about people who are special or famous because they are not part of my emotional bank.”

For the characters in that emotional bank, drawn largely from his own childhood, circumstance can turn a prized object into a useless annoyance. People struggle with painstaking decisions and intricate compromises, anticipating one outcome but facing an entirely different result. Individuals are nuanced, not easily categorized as saviors or villains.

His most recent film, “A Hero,” which won the top prize at Cannes, integrates all these subthemes. Its ordinary characters are engulfed in chaos, suspense and thrill.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/25/world/middleeast/iran-film-asghar-farhadi.html