Starring: Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Osamah Sami, Leah Purcell, Selina Zahednia
Distributor: Madman Entertainment
Runtime: 118 mins. Reviewed in Oct 2023
Reviewer: Peter W Sheehan
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This Australian drama tells the story of an Iranian mother and her young daughter who seek shelter in a women’s refuge in Australia, looking for freedom from the domestic violence they have experienced.
It is the first two weeks of the Iranian new year (Nowruz), which is joyously symbolic of new birth. Shayda (Ebrahimi) and her beloved six-year-old child, Mona (Zahednia), celebrate life among friends after seeking refuge from the domestic violence and coercive control of Shayda’s husband and Mona’s father, Hossein (Sami).
The film won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2023, and is the debut feature of Australian director Niasari, who was born in Tehran, Iran. Niasari wrote, co-produced and directed the movie, which opened the 2023 Melbourne International Film Festival in 2023. The film was also selected as Australia’s entry in the Best International Feature Film category for the 96th Academy Awards in 2023. It is informed by the director’s personal experiences in a Brisbane shelter in Australia when she was a young child. A co-executive producer was Cate Blanchett.
Both Shayda and Mona escape to a women’s shelter in Melbourne in 1995 to put family violence behind them, and to seek community support. Shayda wants to hide from her estranged husband, who re-enters her life. Hossein came to Australia to study as a medical student. Although Shayda finds shelter, she again faces the coercion and control from which she is trying to escape – Shayda is subject to a court order that gives Hossein unsupervised access to Mona, although he has been a constant threat to Shayda and Mona in the past, and he has sexually assaulted Shayda. To help her cope, Shayda disguises herself so that she can go unnoticed, but in so doing she unwittingly arouses the criticism of some members of her Iranian-based community, who treat her and Mona as outcasts for going against Iranian law. Shayda must find the strength to cope and move forward.
French-Iranian actress, Ebrahimi gives a commanding performance as Shayda, and embeds the viewer deep within her emotional anguish. Purcell is excellent in the role of Joyce, a refuge worker who manages Shayda’s crisis and tries to give her the support she needs. Shayda fears that Hossein will abduct Mona and take her back with him to Tehran. Hossein behaves with a sense of entitlement and taunts Shayda with Iranian law that reinforces the rights of a husband and father. Shayda is being judged harshly for rejecting her husband, but he continues to be a threat to her and Mona.
The movie strongly delivers messages about emotional trauma and women’s rights, and explores in a personal way the courage, resilience and determination of a woman wanting to escape domestic violence. Shayda’s fight to survive expresses a cogent plea. The film sets freedom and fear of loss against the emotional pull of cultural identity. It is a powerful, haunting depiction of Shayda’s predicament that delivers a compelling, tense and authentic statement of female empowerment and migrant experience. This is a deeply affecting film that is beautifully acted, photographed and directed.
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