A House Built on Water
House on the water (Khanei ruye ab) is the second post-revolution film of the Iranian director Bahman Farman-Ara. It appeared in 2001 and is 111 minutes long.
Its themes and atmosphere are similar to his prior movie Smell of Camphor, Scent of Jasmine, however with no repeat. It enjoys entirely other atmosphere and form. Both relate to death, but each otherwise.
At the beginning of the film the main character during an accident by his car on a road, injures a young angel. So the viewers from the start understand, that the film deals with surrealism and mystic work. However, there is not much so; more than 90% of the film reflect only touchable realities. The protagonist, Dr. Sepid-bakht (literary: blank-future, good-fortune, or good-end), middle-aged gynaecologist, has good, no-good and bad attributes – as most of us humans. Sepid-bakht with past mistakes and being lonely now, accidentally become acquainted with an 8-year boy, who knows by heart the entire text of The Qoran and suddenly goes in coma. Maybe hence the first the name of the film was Coma and in an interview Farman-Ara described the future film as “The history of society in collective coma”.
The doctor, who now experiences “free fall in the life”, in the past, for instance, caused infertility to his secretary-love, who no way pardons him because of that, what he did to her, when she was even younger. Among the social problems, about which the film exhibits are narcotism of youngsters, prostitution and aids. Somewhere in the film the Dr. responding to someone, who just called as him his last hope, says: “(So) We are in a shit world, when I am someone's last hope.” Western film critics already compared some socio-satyr attributes of the films of Farman-Ara with those of Woody Allen.
The doctor still sympathize with his ex-beloved, who now is a head-nurse and pass chemi-therapy because of a severe disease; with young girl, who recently understood, that she suffers from aids; and with his son, who suffers from narcotic drags.
Also this film of Farman-Ara very pleased to the judges of the International Fajr Film-Festival of Tehran (2002) and won many prizes, i.a. as the best Iranian film and because of the best actor (Reza Kijanijan).
Author and director
Actors
Role: Actor
Dr. Sepidbakht: Reza Kianian
Doctor's father: Ezzat-ol-lah Entezami
Doctor's son, Mani: Mehdi Safavi
Doctor's secretary: Hedye Tehrani
Head-nurse: Bita Farrahi
Girl with aids: Behnaz Jafari
Literature
This material first appeared in Esperanto-language article in Iranian Esperantist, n-ro 11, year 4, Spring 2005, 56 p., p. 4-8.: Like a small kiss by Shima Bastani. Here are its sources:
BAHARLU, Abbas. Sad chehreye sinemaye Iran (Hundred faces of Iranian movie), Tehran: Naŝre ghatre, 2002, 208 p.