The Patience Stone
Syngué sabour
In an unnamed country – that has all the characteristics of today’s Afghanistan – a young woman cares for her older husband, who is in a coma. He was shot during the fighting. She looks after their two young daughters and protects his motionless body against advancing militias.
Meanwhile, she speaks increasingly openly to her husband, who was an oppressor when he was still healthy. She sees him more and more as the ‘patience stone’ from ancient Persian legend, to which you told all your secrets and sins before it broke, and in doing so delivered you from your guilty feelings.
Atiq Rahimi’s film, based on his own book (which won the prestigious French Prix Goncourt), focuses continuously on the strong young woman, played with magnetic power by Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani. The woman’s confessions sketch an open-hearted and revealing picture of this male-dominated society.
Film details
- Countries of production
- Afghanistan, France, Germany
- Year
- 2012
- Festival edition
- IFFR 2013
- Length
- 98'
- Medium/Format
- DCP
