Backround reading, Neshat

Women without men.

This is the result of some background reading on the film, Women without men.
It is based on a novel of the same name by Shahrnush Parsipur.
It is directed by Shiran Neshat, a visual artist who spent years doing photography and video work before coming into film.
She says that Her work became more narrative until a film didn't seem so different from her art.

It is in a magical realism style which means it present magical elements as if they were real.
It has a lot of allegory and visual symbolism.
There is the timeless orchard where it is about a few individuals and their inner selves. 
This is juxtaposed with Tehran which has historical political conflicts of a specific time and place.

The director says the film is 40% faithful to the book. The film is more political with scenes of the 1953 protests.

Before 1953 Iran was a secular society with ideas of democracy and freedom.
Mossadegh was a left leaning leader who wanted to nationalise the oil industry he was respected by most Iranians as he was democratically elected.
The CIA and the British organised a coup that replaced him with the Shah.
this lies behind much of the hostility between Iran and the USA today. It also layed the ground work for the 1979 Islamic revolution.
The woman are not portrayed entirely as victims but with strength, dignity, bravery and the ability to move.






of strength, dignity, courage, and mobility.





















Neshat, S. (2010). Women Without Men: A Conversation with Shirin Neshat. Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2010/05/women-without-men-a-conversation-with-shirin-neshat.html