The Son

Farid is a forty-something kidult − flabby, balding and unmarried. His brother emigrated to the United States twenty years ago. Farid lives with his mother who doesn’t trust him with her cheque book, but tolerates his apathy and even allows him to buy a car so he can keep up the illusion of being a man of the world. In spite of their constant squabbling, Farid is shocked by her sudden death, and then consumed by loneliness. He makes awkward attempts at contact with a neighbour and women he meets on the street.

Following a long series of Iranian films by male directors about helpless women, Noushin Meraji here reverses the roles. Her protagonist’s psychology is a curious mix of cluelessness, pride, vulnerability, strategic lying and rancour. In the final analysis, however, this at times funny character study is all about compassion. For the Farids of this world, life simply proves too complex to navigate.