Women Without Men (2009 film)
Women Without Men is a 2009 film adaptation of the 1990 Shahrnush Parsipur novel, directed by Shirin Neshat.[1][2] Neshat's work explores gender issues in the Islamic world. Women without Men is her first dramatic feature.
Women Without Men
Shoja Azari
Shirin Neshat
Steven Henry Madoff
Shahrnush Parsipur (novel)
Shoja Azari
Philippe Bober
Jerome de Noirmont
Barbara Gladstone
Martin Gschlacht
Isabell Wiegand
Manfred Zurhorst
Shabnam Tolouei
Pegah Ferydoni
Arita Shahrzad
Orsolya Tóth
Mehdi Moinzadeh
Navíd Akhavan
Mina Azarian
Bijan Daneshmand
Martin Gschlacht
George Cragg
Patrick Lambertz
Jay Rabinowitz
Christof Schertenleib
Julia Wiedwald
IndiePix Films (US)
- September 9, 2009 (Venice Film Festival)
95 minutes
Germany
Austria
France
Iran
Persian
The film profiles the lives of four women living in Tehran in 1953, during the American-backed coup that returned the Shah of Iran to power.[3] The film was called "visually transfixing" by The New York Times reviewer Stephen Holden, who added, "the film surpasses even Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon in the fierce beauty and precision of its cinematography (by Martin Gschlacht)."
Two of the film's recurrent images are of a long dirt road extending to the horizon on which the characters walk, and a river that suggests, "a deep current of feminine resilience below an impassive exterior."[1]
Production[edit]
Women Without Men was filmed in Morocco, with Casablanca standing in for Tehran, Iran.[1] The film originated as a video installation by the filmmaker/artist, Shirin Neshat.[1]
Awards and honors[edit]
The film's director, Shirin Neshat, won the 2009 Venice Film Festival Silver Lion for best directing.[4] The film was a "special presentation" at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.