Synopsis
Various women struggle to function in the oppressively sexist society of contemporary Iran.
2000 ‘دایره’ Directed by Jafar Panahi
Various women struggle to function in the oppressively sexist society of contemporary Iran.
Dayereh, Sirkelen, Il cerchio, Le Cercle, El círculo, Der Kreis, Cirkeln, 써클, 生命的圆圈, O Círculo, Ο κύκλος, Круг
Thank you Maya for watching your last Panahi with me, which was incidentally my very first.
The Circle is the road movie where the distance is traveled on foot but the footprints sink into the endless circle of living.
Jafar Panahi gives a glimpse into four women's lives who try to get by in their everydays. He focuses on one at a time, transitioning from one storyline to the next and creating an invisible bridge of companionship between the women. They are all strangers to each other but are connected through the lingering sadness that permeates their static existence.
The camera sticks to their faces at all times. They might remain silent and instead of talking, observe the world around…
Iranian women can't catch a break!
A humanist film by Jafar Panahi, that serves as an outstanding artistic view of the fate of women in Iran. It's a sad film that's worthy of everyone's opinion. But it's a shame that it's banned in Iran.
I loved the structure of the film and how the ending turned out to be. It's a bit predictable, but the intensity between scenes holds the audience’s attention. Loved the handheld camera work, it added an authentic touch to it.
Simultaneous to Marziyeh Meshkini's symbolic masterpiece The Day I Became a Woman (2000), Panahi applies his trademark, engrossing style of striking realism, lively urban environments and hypnotic tracking shots to direct this furious denunciation against gender inequalities against women in contemporary Iran, a society that prevents women from having an abortion, that prevents them from making a shocking amount of formalities without police authorization, that forbids them to travel without male company, that makes women endure physical, psychological and domestic violence, that forbids them to accept car rides from men and to buy tickets alone, and that makes them endure unfair marital regulations that ultimately increase paternalistic and chauvinist tendencies inside the families and empowers men to legally ask for…
Do you remember your parents telling you about the moment you were born? About how happy and lucky they were to have a child of their own? How beautiful and wonderful they thought you were? How people talk about having a child as the most beautiful experience in their lives? Those amazing first moments of having a baby in their arms...
Panahi opens a completely opposite hatch here in the first scene. We can't look through big windows full of light into a spacious hospital room where a relative comes in with decorations and stuff for the baby, as we know it in the West. No, only a very small hatch in the door is opened, through which we only…
Jafar Panahi was finally released from Iranian prison, and it calls for the celebratory viewing of one of his early breakout hits, The Circle. Although I don't think it's one of his best and most innovative works, The Circle definitely tackles Iranian women's plight with enough urgency, and features one of the most heartbreaking subplots of Panahi's career.
The Circle is highly symbolic with its messages, starting from the very first scene to the very last. Echoing its title, it employs a circular narrative, changing the perspective from one woman to the next, all of whom suffer from a sexist, oppressive society. It's a grim and necessary insight into an ugly facet of Iran, although both the plot and style feel a tad raw and conventional compared to Panahi's later masterpieces. Maybe the emotional impact would've been amplified had Panahi stuck to telling one single story and focusing on one central character instead of putting out a political collage.
#21 - Directed by Jafar Panahi from 2024 Asian Cinema Challenge
Progress: 8/52
"Dayereh" aka "The Circle" (quite fitting title) was a bleak, oppressive and effective movie, IMO.
A quite interesting and diverse approach to things. The movie goes about its main theme (women's treatment/oppression) from the first to the last second but without a "leading" character... it follows several characters flipping from one to the other, while depicting a ton of different situations (and further mentions) throughout.
The movie, while a bit slow at times, really serves as quite a thorough "vehicle" for its goals.
Also quite neat how the title fits in with things.
Remarkably, the movie is able to go through everything without any (physical) violence.
Must…
This is such a perfect masterpiece! There are very few films that harmonize as well thematically and visually. The film is about the vicious cycle of women in Iran and it is scripted as an circle. Starts with an opening in a door and ends with one. There are also a lot of circle motives in the film. Circle corridors, rooms, parking lots and stairways. The camera will also often move in circles.
Even the format of the film is perfect. It is filmed in 1.66:1 which is the smallest format in cinema today (with very few examples). This right format helps create the feeling of being trapped, imprisoned.
And I like how one woman will lead to the next…
- Everywhere is the same!
- No. It's paradise over there.
- I just need some time. I couldn't handle seeing that your paradise might not exist.
The Circle - Whaattttttta!!! One of the most well-rounded films I've ever watched both from a literal as well as filmmaking standpoints and Iranian Cinema continues to be a one-of-its-kind gift that keeps on giving such unique experiences out of nowhere — Happy 61st to Jafar Panahi!
As obvious as it may seem to start with saying this, but still, The Circle is full of circles both outside and within in terms of how women are trapped in the boundaries of radius drawn by the government outside and how people, in general, are…
Lives of various women are enclosed by the "The Circle" of restrictions in an Iranian society. Some of them escape from prison; one attempts to abandon an unwanted daughter; another is determined to run away; another one tries to rid of a pregnancy; a few idealise the dependency brought by marriage. While men utter disrespectful remarks on the side, these women stride along the streets, looking for the next bus, the next cab, the next place of respite, only to be transferred to a different kind of societal prison. A scene where a prostitute stands outside a car is contrasted by a newly bride in it, which further displays a different sense of confinement. Wheat Field with Cypresses, painted by Van…
Imagine not being born yet, but have society already hate you. That is what the opening minutes imply in this gripping drama showcasing the brutal and unfair Regime in Iran. Several lives of women are shown here, each one in dire sitations, as the state, or even the closest to them, family is turned against them. Pahani got into a lot of trouble for this, be it the unflattering themes he shows or the clevear usage of presenting taboo subjects, which ultimately led to his arrest. Luckily, he was able to make a solid movie.
كأن الحياة لا تُريد النساء!
يمكننا أن نقول على وجه اليقين إنها رحلة فنيه رحلة كارثية من خلال منظار اسود لحفنة من النساء المضطهدات في مجتمع مغلق لا يعترف بوجودهن
First pre-ban Jafar Panahi film I've seen, and its controversy is reminiscent of the same ideas that caused the near-total loss of Chess of the Wind. Panahi shoots his characters in spaces of confinement; when the women enter the room, his camera focuses on the window, as a symbol of freedom from society's prison. This viewpoint is what has led him to be such a great artist through systems of limitation; 3 Faces, Taxi, Closed Curtain, and This is Not a Film use their geographic limitations in protest of authoritarian control by exploring spaces of personal freedom (Taxi, and Abbas Kiarostami's Ten are very similar) rather than as gimmick. The defiance of the women smoking in a vehicle they have…