The Salesman (Asghar Farhadi, 2016): Iran|France

Reviewed by Veronica Arvidsson. At Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2017.

The very realistic tone of  The salesman is exposed already in the first 3 minutes of the film where we are taken through one long continuous shot through a chaotic scene where the tenants of an apartment-complex are rushing out from the house bringing the little they need, our protagonist is walking up the stairs of the apartment-complex and simulotanisly as us, the audience, finds out what is going on: Due to collapsing the house is being evacuated. This kind of cinematography that empahsizes realism is used frequently throughout the film joined by the long-lasting shots and low key lighting.

The couple Rana and Emad are now faced with having to find a new place to stay that is afoardable and safe. Through a colleuge at the small time theatre where the couple professions as actors, they are being set up with an apartment of low standards but doable for at least a couple of months. Not to long after the moving in however an intruder finds his way into the apartment where Rana is alone and he abuses her without her being able to identify who it is. The couple are then left to face the consequences of this event that infects their relationship and causes a barrier between them. They are both forced to deal with the personal issues of overcoming, trust and revenge on their own which only leads them further away from each other.

”The Salesman” succeeds to give a very realistic point of view after a personal traumatic event and how it may not be visible for the outer world but is slowly infecting our two protagonists and their relatiosnship on the inside. It’s a story about perserverince, about overcoming, forgiving and moving on after having gone through terrible assaults both physically and mentally. The most staggering thing about the story being told is the relatiosnhsip between the protagonists and their heartbreaking lack of understanding for each others situation. The arc of the relationship and the characters is connected to the story being told at the theatre where they both work every night, and is proposed in the film as the place where their real feelings actually slips out through the cracks. When they’re supposed to take the role of someone else that’s when it seems as if they are most vulnerable personally. That’s what I take away from this film and it’s not a bad thing to take away at all.