THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG (TIFF 2024) – Review by Nadine Whitney
Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig is cinematic resistance and bravery – devastating as it is to use the experience of a single family in Tehran to illustrate the violent repression of Iranian dissent against the theocratic state. A principled lawyer, Iman (Missagh Zareh) is the father of two daughters; university aged Rezvan (Mahsa Rostami) and high schooler Sana (Setareh Maleki). His wife Najmeh (Soheila Golestani) is attentive to his wellbeing offering him tea, comfort, and succour in their darkened bedroom.
Iman has been promoted to investigating judge in Iran’s Revolutionary Court, a position which socially elevates the already privileged family. He is issued a gun as the Revolutionary Court is becoming increasingly unpopular with the next generation of Iranians. That next generation potentially includes his loving daughters who are seeing first-hand the difference between Nezâm sponsored media and the reality of the brutality of the Guidance Patrol and police quelling emerging protests after the death of Mahsa Amini. The hijab protests a beacon for the Iranian Democratic movement.
Iman’s promotion wasn’t based on merit, rather on the proviso he would be amenable to signing death warrants without investigation. At first this troubles Iman, but his ‘ethical’ concerns are soon replaced with annoyance at his workload. Najmeh worries he is detaching from his family – constantly urging him to connect with his daughters.
Rezvan brings home a friend from university, the spirited Sadaf (Niousha Akhshi). Najmeh disapproves of the young woman. Najmeh already worries that Rezvan is too opinionated, and Sana is easily influenced by her sister. The tension between Rezvan and her mother is heightened by Najmeh’s blind belief in state sponsored propaganda. Sadaf lives on campus where unrest is fomenting. She calls Rezvan from the dorms where young people are shouting for women’s rights (Jin, Jiyan, Azadî) and the end of the corrupt theocracy. The students have phones, and they film what the media doesn’t show. Rezvan and Sana send each other text messages with the footage, hiding the activity from their parents.
Rezvan and Sadaf get caught in a street protest. Najmeh had dropped them at university and Sana at school. She’s caught in the violence as she desperately searches for Rezvan. When she gets home, she turns on the television to check the news. All that is showing is a soap opera.
Rezvan brings a seriously injured Sadaf to the apartment. Najmeh’s relief that both her daughters safe is palpable. So is her sorrow as she extracts metal ball bearings from Sadaf’s face. Days previously they had all been in the same bedroom painting each other’s nails and laughing. Yet Najmeh refuses to allow Sadaf sanctuary in their home after such a brutal injury. “She brought it on herself” she argues. “Let her parents deal with her.” “Your father cannot know she was ever here.”
Sadaf is taken by the morality police. Tehran is at boiling point, but Najmeh seems concerned only with ensuring the family eat together. Rezvan begs her to help to locate Sadaf and she secretly contacts a family friend. Najmeh’s act will have repercussions.
When Iman finally sits down with his family the reality of his character becomes clearer. Rezvan makes a comment under her breath about the news programs being lies and Iman forces an explanation. Rezvan’s questions are calm and clinical. Iman cannot answer them except with slogans about ‘the law’, ‘the regime’, ‘the people.’ He becomes angered, telling her he is preserving culture for ‘her generation.’ Her response is simply “I have seen what your regime has done. I have eyes. I live here.” “Propaganda from the enemy” is twisting her mind, he responds. Rezvan tells Iman he believes the lies because he is inside the system.
When Iman’s gun goes missing in the apartment who he is, and probably always was, is revealed. He turns on his family. Paranoid, he decides Rezvan took it. Denial, proof that she doesn’t have the gun and had no opportunity to do anything with it are not enough. The apartment becomes a prison. Unable to get Rezvan and Sana to co-operate with him, Iman sends them, along with Najmeh, to an interrogator. Iman’s mask slips completely. He is Nezâm. He will go further to get answers and keep control.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig appears to gradually reveal its hand, but Rasoulof places horrors in the background in many scenes especially in Iman’s workplace. Najmeh’s ostensible docility was to keep her daughters safe. Iman was a loving patriarch, but his love required unquestioning devotion to sustain it. His misogyny is madness and his piety perverted by the laws written to use holy scripture to control.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig is a formidable, terrifying thriller honoring the bravery of people standing against tyranny. Rasoulof mixes real footage of the protests into the film while showing three fictional women surviving consuming fanaticism. Unforgettable.
