Portrait of a Lady Far Away

What is with Iranian films and driving around at night? It seems that every other Iranian film I have seen involve driving around cities at night. Despite this familiarity, they really know how to tell their stories in this format. Ali Mossaffa’s “Portrait of a Lady Far Away (Sima-Ye Zani Dar Doordast)” has the two protagonists drive around Tehran all night. It is an intricate odyssey, and like Odysseus our male protagonist’s plan was to see his wife and son again in the end. He was distracted by a beautiful young Afghan woman and through the journey remembered his youth again, both regrets and dreams. It is all very familiar and classical. What Mossaffa accomplished is tell his story confidently and masterfully. There is no great moment of revelation, no high drama. That is not to say there is no opportunity to do so but Mossaffa chose not to do it that way. Instead the film focuses our attention on the two travelling companions and the slow revealing of their stories. Imperceptibly we are mesmerized by the gentle story telling and the desires we come to understand. It is hard to believe that this is from a first time director.