Shadi

In 2005, Maryam Khakipour made her first film, Sih Bzi, kargarn-é shdi (Sih Bzi, the Joy Makers) in Teheran, about the closing-down of the oldest in theatre in Teheran, the “Naser” which carried on traditional performances akin to Commedia dell’Arte. Moved by the film, Ariane Mnouchkine invites the troupe to put on a show at the théatre du Soleil. The encounter is slightly problematic (differences of codes, lack of understanding between the two cultures, paranoid imaginings over the translations, suspicion and touchiness), but the main point lies elsewhere. Here the theatre serves as no more than a set or frame in order to address, in successive touches, the status of Iranian women through the atypical portrait of a young actress, Shadi. (Yann Lardeau)