So, my Middle Eastern Festival in my house moved for one day only to my car, as Mrs W was driving to London for our back-to-back Turkish comedies.
En route, I became immersed in another superb piece of work produced in Iran.
Of course, Iranian films seem to be vogue at the moment, thanks to the plaudits for A Separation, but I think I pause for a minute and reflect on just how difficult it is to get these movies made.
According to Variety, Goodbye, which surrounds a woman's personal battle to leave Iran no matter what the cost, was inspired by writer/director Mohammad Rasoulof's own difficulties.
Rasoulof was convicted in 2009 of filming without permission. He has now been jailed for six years and banned from making films for 20.
This news answered a critical question for me. And that was: how could a movie which is so obviously critical of the Tehran regime be made in Iran?
The answer it seems is that it couldn't, without consequences and probably will never be seen there.
Luckily, Goodbye has been made because it is a superb piece of work.
In it, Leyla Zareh plays a lawyer who is desperate to leave the country because she has been barred from practising. It gives the impression that her ban is because of the newspaper articles written by her dissident husband.
However, leaving Iran is far from easy.
She gets involved with a facilitator at great financial cost and he has recommended that it would be easier to be accepted into another country if she was pregnant.
However, to add to the drama, we discover that all is not well with her unborn child.
Thus, she faces the double-stress of her trying to obtain the relevant documentation to leave and fearing for the health of her baby.
In the midst of this drama is the constant spectre of the secret police who, it seems, can simply show up and rifle through people's personal belongings without even a whiff of a warrant.
Goodbye is a slow drama but is deeply engrossing. Zareh, who has presumably put herself in peril by taking part, is totally believable as are her circumstances.
It is a piece of work which will surely receive much acclaim.
Laughs: none
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 8.5/10
Goodbye is featured in the Edinburgh Film House Middle Eastern Film Festival on February 18. Thanks to James McKenzie for the screener.
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