Irreverent city engineer Behzad comes to a rural Kurdish village in Iran to keep vigil for a dying relative. In the meanwhile the film follows his efforts to fit in with the local community and how he changes his own attitudes as a result.
Direction
Kiarostami makes waiting for death feel weirdly comforting.
Cinematography
Every wheat field shot belongs in a museum.
Writing
Dialogue so natural you'll forget it's scripted.
Director
Abbas Kiarostami
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Kiarostami never showed the dying woman on screen; he filmed the movie without a complete script, discovering the story with his non-professional actors.
The title references a Forugh Farrokhzad poem about liberation through death — the film became a definitive work of Iranian cinema's 'poetic realism' movement.
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