“Two” at SLIFF 2016: In Modern Iran, a Woman Falls by the Wayside

The title of Two, the debut feature from Iranian actress-turned-director Soheila Golestani, is a bit deceptive. Ostensibly, this unhurried drama is centered on a pair of lonely, middle-aged characters in contemporary Tehran: housekeeper Pari (Mahtab Nasirpour) and recently returned expatriate Bahman (Persian film star Parviz Parastui). In practice, this is Pari’s tale, however, as Golestani’s liberal adaptation of a Jewish-American short story makes clear, whether in the way that the camera lingers over her weary, plaintive countenance or the way that it follows the myriad tangents of her day-to-day interactions.

Pari has been hired to help Bahman clean up his recently deceased father’s expansive flat and seemingly countless belongings for sale. She is a diligent worker but insistent and curious, while he is gruff and dismissive to a fault. In another kind of film, this situation would be the basis for friendship of opposites or perhaps romance. Not so in Two, which depicts Bahman as so distracted by his responsibilities that he can barely be bothered to acknowledge Pari. What emerges from the film is not a relationship study, but a quiet tragedy about the way that contemporary Iranian society constrains women’s choices, ignores their concerns, and belittles their hopes.

Viewers familiar with Asghar Rahadi’s realist features such as A Separation and The Past will quickly settle into the slow, steady rhythm of Two, which is often content to simply observe through doorways as Pari’s story unfolds in a naturalistic manner. Golestani’s mise en scène and Hayedeh Safiari’s editing are marvelous stuff, but the film’s commitment to realism keeps much of the story hidden to a frustrating extent. Exposition is minimal, leaving Western viewers to puzzle out for themselves the various relationships and the nature of Pari’s outcast status. Only this vexing opacity prevent Two from achieving its full potential.

Two screens Sunday, November 6 at 6:00 p.m and Monday, November 7 at 9:30 p.m. Both screenings are at the Hi-Pointe Backlot. For tickets or additional information visit the Cinema St. Louis website.