Women Without Men (2009)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Great story, being a Persian, I always heard about the Coup but I could never picture how was it like living at that time, and Shirin Neshat in the best way possible combined it with a love story. Munes wants to be knowledgeable about social and sexual matters (in the film she wants to be a political activist); Faezeh is a traditional Muslim woman who wants a good marriage; Zarin Kolah is a prostitute dreaming of a better future, and Farok-Lagha is a wealthy woman determined to become an influential figure on the political scene. All four end up in a house with a garden in a Tehran suburb, striving for a future that was not granted to them. Gardens are popular in the middle East and especially in Iran, where a garden is a metaphor for paradise.

More of a visual impressionist than storyteller, Shirin Neshat uses the thread of magic-realism to weave together vignettes of five besieged Iranian women. The film beautifully depicts the early fifties era in Iran, during the Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi coup and rebellion against American-British usurpation. Men fare badly in this feature, with maybe one silent gardener playing a benign male role. Neshat has a gifted eye, so check out the extra features for her detail-rich explanations of film nuancing. AfroPixFlix finds 8 fig-forks for this film-festival feature.Women Without Men (Zanan-e bedun-e mardan) 2009; 91 mins Directors: Shirin Neshat, Shoja Azari Writers: Shoja Azari, Shirin Neshat

The director Shirin Neshat has in "Zanan-e bedun-e mardan", made a visually stunning and important film, with a lot of good acting performances. Especially by Pegah Ferydoni(as Faezeh), and Arita Shahrzad (as Farrokhlagha). When you walk out of the cinema after having watched this movie, the real world will for a time seem a bit more colorless and unreal.With the military coup of the Shah of Iran in 1953 as a background, four women find out the price for freedom. And through them, the audience find out the price and value of freedom for themselves. The film also draws the historical lines between the democratic Iran of the early 1950s, and the "Green movement" of today.

Women Without Men is the debut feature from 'visual artist'-turned- director Shirin Neshat, well known for her artistic works exploring gender relations. It is the adaptation of the 1989 novel of the same name by Shahrnush Parsipur, which was banned by the Iranian government in the 1990s for its outspoken depiction of female oppression.Women Without Men is a tasteful, beautifully shot, well-meaning drama with some excellent performances and strong story set in a fascinating period in Iranian history. It's let down a little by its tendency to rely on clichés and convenience when it comes to character, but still an extremely enjoyable take on female independence and the intertwining lives of these four women. LB