28th August

Inversion DVD & Download

A film by Behnam Behzadi

Also on disc & on demand

Synopsis

Niloofar, 35 years old, lives alone in Tehran with her aged mother, and stays busy with her tailoring shop. Tehran's air pollution has reached maximum levels, making it hard to breath. When doctors insist that her mother must leave smoggy Tehran or she will have not long to live, Niloofar’s older brother and sister decide that she must also move away to the countryside to accompany her mother. Niloofar is torn between family loyalty and living her own life and pursuing a potential love interest she has kept secret from her family. She is the youngest and she has always succumbed to family pressure, but this time she decides to stand up for herself.

Official Selection, Cannes Film Festival, Un Certain Regard.

Where It's On

DVD available from:
Amazon

Rent or Buy:
iTunes

Amazon Video

Curzon Home Cinema

Trailer

Director — Behnam Behzadi

Born in 1972, Behnam Behzadi started his career as a photographer and theatre actor at the age of 15. He graduated from the Faculty of Cinema and TV in Tehran with a BA in filmmaking. He has made more than 20 films including shorts, TV movies and documentaries, some of which won various awards in international film festivals, especially his first feature, Before the Burial in 2008. His previous film, Bending the Rules won the Special Jury Prize in Tokyo, the Audience Award in Nantes and the Special Prize in Mannheim. Behzadi teaches Cinema at the Tehran University of the Arts and has published many articles and essays. Inversion is the first of his films getting a UK distribution.

Filmography

Feature Films

2016 INVERSION (VAROONEGI)

2013 BENDING THE RULES (aka THE RULE OF ACCIDENT) (GHAEDEYE TASADOF)

2008 BEFORE THE BURIAL (aka WE ONLY LIVE TWICE) (TANHA DO BAR ZENDEGI MIKONIM)

Short films

1987 GRANDFATHER

1991 TO DIE

1993 TODAY IS MONDAY

1999 RETALIATION

2000 FATHER’S TALES

Documentaries

1988 ASHURA

1994 THE FACULTY

1995 HAND AND MOANING

1997 THE BLUE ECHO OF THE TILE

2002 HIDE YOUR WORDS

2005 SWAN SONG

Film for Television

1996 THE FIRST DAY

2001 ADDRESS

2003 WE WENT TO THE RIVERBANK

2006 GLASS AVERSION

2009 BEYOND TRILOGY

2010 ANOTHER PERSON

2011 SECOND HEART

Cast & Credits

CAST

Sahar Dowlatshahi (Niloofar)

Ali Mosaffa (Farhad)

Ali Reza Aghakhani (Soheil)

Setareh Pesyani (Soudabeh)

Roya Javidnia (Homa)

Shirin Yazdanbakhsh (Mother/Mahin)

Setareh Hosseini (Saba)

Toufan Mehrdadian (Majid)

Mojtaba Nam Nabat (Reza)

Payam Yazdani (Dr. Rahnama)

Ebad Karimi (Mohseni)

Yazdan Akhoondi (Arash)

CREW

Director & Scriptwriter	Behnam Behzadi
Script Advisor	Hassan Shahsavari
Director of Photography	Bahram Badakhshani
Sound	Rashid Daneshmand
Sound Design & Mix	Amir Hossein Ghasemi
Music	Sahar Sakhaei
Editor	Meysam Molaei
Make Up Artist	Soudabeh Khosravi
Set and Costume Designer	Babak KarimiTari
Assistant Director	Afshin Rezaei
Still Photography	Somayeh Jafari
Production Manager	Ebrahim Zahedifar
Investors	Behnam Behzadi, Mojtaba Nam Nabat
Producer	Behnam Behzadi

Color, 2K, 1:1.85, 16:9, 84 min, 2016, Iran

Cert PG

The Critics

'Terrific performances...a movie that has something to say...very powerful.'

Mark Kermode, Kermode&Mayo Radio 5

'A fantastic performance by Sahar Dowlatshahi...I was really moved by it because I believed in the characters.'

Mark Kermode, The Film Review

★★★★

'Impressive Iranian drama...Like Asghar Farhadi’s acclaimed recent movies 'A Separation' and 'The Salesman', this is a story about middle-class Tehran and the layers of conflict that evolve out of seemingly ordinary circumstances. What’s distinctive here is the film’s investment in the plight of female self-determination. It delves into the labyrinth of Iranian social mores, and the subtle ways in which women of different generations mark out their own emotional space.'
Trevor Johnston, Time Out

★★★★

'The movie itself is a cousin to The Salesman and A Separation, Asghar Farhadi’s two Oscar-winning examinations of Iranian society through the lens of Iranian domestic life. Behzadi’s humanist miniaturism is so subtle — so “ordinary” on the surface — that at times it could pass for soap opera. But the characters are intertwined with a lethal craft. And their dilemmas of guilt or conscience are so fine and nuanced that we barely perceive the process by which the film gathers its satirical and symbolic density.'
Nigel Andrews, The Financial Times

★★★★
'Compelling domestic drama about a woman fighting her corner paints big issues on a small canvas'

Kate Muir, The Times

'penetrating drama...An upbeat tale of woman power... A woman takes charge in Behnam Behzadi’s smoggy Tehran drama...'

Deborah Young, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

'In “Inversion,” the pollution sets off a chain reaction of familial discord that closes in on the heroine, Niloofar (Sahar Dowlatshahi), until it forces her to find a new source of air... Sahar Dowlatshahi is a beautiful and dynamic actress with an open, laughing face and darkly expressive doe eyes that have a way of dominating every shot they’re in. Under her head scarf, her hair lays against her forehead in a way that gives her a striking resemblance to Audrey Hepburn — and this is one case where an actress’s impish radiance serves a vital thematic function.'

Owen Gleiberman, VARIETY

'Behzadi's film is a lucid depiction of life in modern-day Tehran and the underlying rules of Iranian society...A portrait of Iranian society, 'Varoonegi' (Inversion) probes an issue regarding women and what expectations the community has of them, while being an essentially plot-focused story.'

Jasmin Valjas, The Upcoming UK

Behzadi's 'Inversion' Welcomed in Cannes

'The Iranian feature film ‘Inversion’, written and directed by Behnam Behzadi, which represents Iran in the Un Certain Regard Section of the 69th Cannes Film Festival, had its premiere screening on May 18 and was well received by the audience including jury president George Miller and the Iranian jury member Katayoon Shahabi.'

'Owen Gleiberman, chief film critic of Variety called Dowlatshahi “a dynamic actress.” Praising her performance, he wrote, “The audience looks at Niloofar and feels so connected to her eager vitality that we want her to be everything that she can be.'

FINANCIAL TRIBUNE

"The first dramatic feature by short film and documentary-maker Behnam Behzadi, represents Iran in the Un Certain Regard section of the festival. The theme of a woman seeking self-determination in the face of society’s restrictions is one that has remained in the forefront for contemporary Iranian directors. Although not social realist in its style, “Inversion” addresses real issues regarding a woman’s freedom to choose her own life in the face of the overriding grip of family obligation.

Behzadi’s storytelling is conventional, but the film’s appeal lies in its revealing construction of the web of family obligation and filial responsibility. Iranian filmmakers are used to working with metaphor and fictional subterfuge, and this director’s underlining of the concepts of inversion, independence, and self-determination can be read with a wider meaning."

Rogerebert

"A winner, Behnam Behzadi’s “Inversion” (“Varoonegi” in the original Persian title), screened yesterday in the Un Certain Regard selection., Cannes. A drama about a family in turmoil after a parent falls ill and an important decision needs to be taken by all...ongoing issues with a previous heritage cause complications and more bad blood. Comparisons to Asghar Farhadi can hardly be avoided, Behzadi creating an ersatz of “A Separation.”
Ali Naderzad, SCREEN COMMENT

Links

Download pressbook

Download photos

Download hi-res poster

Euronews Clip of film and Interview with director

Trailer on Vimeo - also can be downloaded as mp4 file from Vimeo link

Trailer on Youtube

QT ProRes of trailer can be downloaded here

Bookings & Press

For film bookings please contact Colin Burch at Verve Pictures — [email protected]. Press resources are on the Press page.