Much like Farhadi's other films, 'Fireworks Wednesday' also depends highly on character revelations, the powerful dialogues and sensationally grounded performances the director is able to extract from his ensemble.
The movie sheds light on certain events that take place in the life of a married couple (Mozhdeh & Morteza) on the eve of the Persian New Year. The wife suspects the husband of cheating with the neighbor but as yet, she does not have substantial evidence to prove the same. How the movie juggles between the perspectives of the lead protagonists is indeed effectively done. A domestic help (Rouhi) who is about to get married enters their day and things start to go topsy-turvy all of a sudden (for reasons you might not expect!).
It is pretty clear how Farhadi is a master at story-telling from a minimalist angle. His films more or less rely on how well the characters react/emote and how one event is the result of the other. Taraneh Alidoosti who plays the role of the domestic help, conveys the right set of expressions (cute and mushy when talks of her marriage pop up, but solemn when things around her start spiraling out of control!). Hediyeh Tehrani as the grieving wife acts out her role like she's literally living it. Hamid Farokhnezad who plays the husband also does a deft job (it's exciting to see how he hams it up when he's losing (rather, pretending to lose) it. Pantea Bahram as the neighbor Simin delivers a glowy performance.
Farhadi is certainly a director of nerve. The fireworks (explosive outbursts) are taking place both inside the house and outside. The inside version is a startling mesh of anger, suspicion and grief, while the outdoor one is an expression of joy and celebration. How contradicting can they get! Farhadi bases almost the entire run-time of the film around (max.) two or three characters but the narrative unraveling is executed almost flawlessly that the viewer never loses track of what's going on. The dialogues are so intrinsically striking that at one point, I felt like wanting to learn Persian. Human beings are not projected as cardboard cut-outs; each one's got themselves a purpose, painted in shades of grey.
Next on my Asghar Farhadi binge-list is 'About Elly'.
The movie sheds light on certain events that take place in the life of a married couple (Mozhdeh & Morteza) on the eve of the Persian New Year. The wife suspects the husband of cheating with the neighbor but as yet, she does not have substantial evidence to prove the same. How the movie juggles between the perspectives of the lead protagonists is indeed effectively done. A domestic help (Rouhi) who is about to get married enters their day and things start to go topsy-turvy all of a sudden (for reasons you might not expect!).
It is pretty clear how Farhadi is a master at story-telling from a minimalist angle. His films more or less rely on how well the characters react/emote and how one event is the result of the other. Taraneh Alidoosti who plays the role of the domestic help, conveys the right set of expressions (cute and mushy when talks of her marriage pop up, but solemn when things around her start spiraling out of control!). Hediyeh Tehrani as the grieving wife acts out her role like she's literally living it. Hamid Farokhnezad who plays the husband also does a deft job (it's exciting to see how he hams it up when he's losing (rather, pretending to lose) it. Pantea Bahram as the neighbor Simin delivers a glowy performance.
Farhadi is certainly a director of nerve. The fireworks (explosive outbursts) are taking place both inside the house and outside. The inside version is a startling mesh of anger, suspicion and grief, while the outdoor one is an expression of joy and celebration. How contradicting can they get! Farhadi bases almost the entire run-time of the film around (max.) two or three characters but the narrative unraveling is executed almost flawlessly that the viewer never loses track of what's going on. The dialogues are so intrinsically striking that at one point, I felt like wanting to learn Persian. Human beings are not projected as cardboard cut-outs; each one's got themselves a purpose, painted in shades of grey.
Next on my Asghar Farhadi binge-list is 'About Elly'.