Review of The Salesman (2016) by Netflic — 06 Feb 2017

I had very high expectations regarding this movie from Iranian director Farhadi whose film “Separation” I loved.

"The Salesman" is a phycological drama about violence, love, revenge, inequality between men and women in Iranian society based on shame and honor, and many other things. We need to keep in mind that Farhadi had to use Aesopian language to let his film pass Iranian censorship. There are many episodes in this movie that are meaningful and symbolic but they are too ambiguous to know what exactly did Farhadi mean.

For instance, when a window glass is cracking, does it mean a family in distress or a society falling apart?

It could be either, or both.

The movie seemed a bit too long for me, and I did not like that it was shot by hand-held camera. But obviously, Farhadi is a master of filmmaking. I do not think this movie is his best but I will see it again, and maybe more than once.