The Apple

1998 ‘سیب’ Directed by Samira Makhmalbaf

After twelve years of imprisonment by their own parents, two sisters are finally released by social workers to face the outside world for the first time.

Massoumeh Naderi Zahra Naderi Ghorban Ali Naderi Azizeh Mohamadi Zahra Saghrisaz

Alternative Titles

Sib, La pomme

drama

86 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Sally Jane Black

Not long ago, I read this interview, which basically spells out the ideas in The Apple directly from the young director's mouth. It's a great interview, but having read it, it would be redundant of me to speak directly of the themes of the movie. In it, Makhmalbaf specifically cites the story of Adam and Eve as a direct parallel to her work here, however, and that stood out--I think also to the interviewer--in that she seems to directly call Satan's role in that story good.
I must admit, I have never given too much thought to the story of Adam and Eve. Had I been taught the story in my adult life, I can't say that I would not…
Review by Sara Gomes ★★★★

Berken's May 30 Days, 30 Countries Challenge Film nº 15 - Iran
Sib is a dramatized documentary about two girls who were locked up since birth and are "rescued" by the social services after a complaint filed by their neighbours.
With the principal characters played by themselves and some actual real footage, this film feels very real. The girls, the parents even the neighbours feel very alive.
The innocence of the girls making friends and wandering about for the first time really lights the mood for an actually very dramatic story about a really poor family, struck by misfortune and religion fundamentalism, with almost no education.
What's more interesting about this film is the showing of a story without judging anyone. The girls were locked up by their parents but specially the father is never shown like a real villain.
Sib is a really wonderful movie really worth watching.
Review by Natasha C. ★★★½

This was kind of hard to watch, it really touched me.
To me, ignorance is one of the worst's evils of life, it's sad and tough to see.
What conforts me is that that the world still have people caring for each other and taking care of each other =).
Review by Rembrandt Q Pumpernickel ★★★ 4

There's something about the sound of this film, the simplicity of almost everyone's words and actions, repetitive, like the banging of spoons, that achieves a musical and rhythmic quality. I like films that have that element to them, that are a bit hypnotizing in the way they sound.
Maybe the best film directed by an 18 year old (although she had her dad's help), but more metaphorical than aesthetically inventive. Rides the line between exposing the fictive elements of documentary, the documentary realities of narrative, and straight up exploitation pretty hard.
Getting harder to write reviews of everything. Not sure how Sally does it.
Review by Owen ★★★★

52 films by women – ultimate challenge 2017
Week 11: 13-19 March
From the Middle East
March around the world #15/30 Iran
Two of the best films I watched last year were Mohsen Makhmalbaf's 'Moment of Innocence' and Marzieh Makhmalbaf's 'The Day I became a Woman'. This film by their daughter Samira is almost as good and seems to have a lot in common with her parents work. It shares with Moment of Innocence quite a playful collision of documentary and fiction, or rather of the obvious staging of supposed documentary for the directors own ends. It shares with her mother's film, and indeed a lot of the Iranian cinema I have seen, a sense of deep injustices largely being…
Review by Rod Sedgwick ★★★★

''A girl is like a flower, if the sun shines on her,
she will fade. A man's gaze is like the sun and a girl is like a flower.''
18 year old filmmaker Samira Makhmalbaf said of Massoumeh and Zahra Naderi, who were the focus of her debut film The Apple: ''We shot this in 11 days, and during this 11 days, they changed more than during those 11 years, just because of having contact with us.''(the film crew), and it's easy to see the evidence of this blossoming throughout a film in which all the real people involved in this remarkable true story are cast to replay both real and fictional events to tell the story of two semi-retarded…

Recent reviews

Review by Ben-ish ★★★★

That perfect alchemy of inexperience. Makhmalbaf thrives not in spite of being a debutant, but because of it! I'm still sorting through all the ways I've underestimated this movie
Review by Sondos ★★★★

البنت سر أبيها
!!!عارفين إن سميرة مخملباف(ابنة المخرج محسن مخملباف) كان عمرها 18 سنة فقط لما كتبت واخرجت الفيلم
وانت عملت ايه لما كنت 18؟
Review by Bartosz Tesarz ★★★½

Unusual blending of documentary and feature, feels like investigative journalism. I guess balancing on he verge of two branches of cinema is an Iranian thing. I'm impressed that Samira Makhmalbaf was just 18 when she made it. Impressive debut.
Review by Gojko Dimić ★★★★

Another haunting and dizzying film from Iran. Samira made a humanist masterpiece and a masterpiece of meta filmmaking. Just like her father, the great Mohsen Makhmalbaf, she blends fact and fiction until they become one. It is one of the bravest pieces of film I have ever seen and one that truly sets the tone for the 21st century. This film is just another reason (on top of many) to love Iranian cinema and the language of cinema they have created through the decades is one of astounding quality.
Review by Jay ★★★★½

In my newest video, I review and analyze the 1998 Iranian film The Apple. Directed by 17-year-old Samira Makhmalbaf, the film follows two 13-year-old sisters who were locked up in their house for nearly their entire lives by their parents. The film is based on a true story that took place as it was being shot and features the actual participants.
Referencing the story of Adam and Hawa (Eve) in Eden, the film takes a traditionally evil symbol and frames it as something necessary and good for human development.
Watch here: THE APPLE (1998) — Cinema is Culture's Mirror
Review by Geoff the Talking Mongoose ★★★★

I would write something longer but I gotta go to work so I'm just gonna say that Iranian cinema is wild and it always throws me off when I hear the context behind these films. like, the knowledge that the people in this are playing themselves in a situation that they actually went through completely recontextualizes everything.
Review by SYNoh ★★★★

처음으로 감상한 이란 여성 영화 감독의 작품이다.
보수적인 종교 종사자 아버지와 시각장애인 어머니에 의해 11년 간 집안에 갇힌 채 키워지다가, 여성 사회복지사에 의해 처음으로 바깥에 나가게 된 이야기다.
영화에서 다루고 있는 쌍둥이 자매의 이야기도 충분히 감동적이고 흥미롭지만, 나는 이 영화를 아랍권 여성 전체의 이야기로 해석하고 싶다.
아버지와 사회복지사의 대화 중에서 '아이들이 남자였다면 당신(아버지)과 같이 밖에 나가서 돌아다녔을 것'이라는 대사가 나온다. 아버지가 영화 내내 반복하는 주장 중에 하나가 '아이들의 안전을 위해서 문을 잠갔다'인데, 이 '안전'도 주로 '남자들로부터의 안전'임을 주창한다. 여성은 꽃, 남성은 태양이라며 남성의 시선(햇빛)이 여성(꽃)을 시들게 한다는 구절을 배운 아버지는 남자아이들이 찬 공이 마당에 떨어질까봐 딸들을 마당에도 못 나가게 한다. 특히 아버지는 딸들이 세간의 주목을 받음으로써 '자신'의 명예가 훼손되었다고 이는 오히려 피해자의 입장에 있는 여성들이 남성들에 의해서 자유를 억압당하는 성차별적인…
Review by João Victor ★★★★

Eu não sei o que dizer.
Review by ughh ughh! ★★★★½

holy shit !!!!!!!!!!! absolutely lovely to watch a film made by Iranians ❤️