There Is No Evil

Winner of the 2020 Berlin Golden Bear.

Every society that enforces the death penalty needs people to kill other people. Four men are faced with an unthinkable but simple choice. Whatever they decide, it will directly or indirectly corrode themselves, their relationships, and their entire lives. In four thematically connected episodes, Mohammad Rasoulof tells their stories, which inevitably are also the stories of the people who surround them.

1 - THERE IS NO EVIL

40-year-old Heshmat is a kind and pleasant family man. He has a peaceful life with his wife and young daughter. He feels caught up in a daily routine. He makes enough money to support his family, but we see in his eyes that they are living with a secret.

2 – SHE SAID, “YOU CAN DO IT”

Pouya has just begun his mandatory 2-year military service. With an honorable discharge, he will be able to apply for a passport and realize his dream of leaving Iran to live abroad with his girlfriend. After only one week of basic training, he is faced with a dilemma. He has a long night ahead of him; a night when Pouya must decide between his dreams or what he believes.

3 - BIRTHDAY

Javad is a young soldier who has been given three days leave from his base. He travels to be with Nana, his fiancée, for her birthday. He has brought a ring and plans to propose to her during the party. After arriving at Nana’s home, he learns that a death of a close family friend has caused them to cancel the celebration. The secret of this stranger’s death disrupts Javad and Nana’s lives.

4 – KISS ME

A middle-aged couple, Bahram and Zaman, live in the countryside where they raise bees and are well liked and respected by their neighbours. Darya, at Bahram’s request and Zaman’s approval, goes to stay with them at their farm for a few days. Darya’s presence at Bahram and Zaman’s farm greatly alters their lives.

World Premiere Competition and Winner of the Golden Bear – Berlin International Film Festival

150 min/Germany/Czech Republic/Iran/Farsi with English subtitles/2020/Cert 15

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Iranian independent director, writer and producer Mohammad Rasoulof was born in Shiraz, Iran in 1972. While studying sociology at university, Rasoulof started his filmmaking career with documentaries and short films. His first film Gagooman (The Twilight, 2002) won Best Film at the Fajr Film Festival in Iran. Following the release of his second film, Jazireh Ahani (Iron Island, 2005), he faced some issues with censorship laws in Iran and as a result his opportunities to further produce and screen films were largely limited and banned. To this date, Mohammad Rasoulof has produced seven feature films, none of which have been screened in Iran due to censorship, even though his films enjoy a wide audience abroad.

Rasoulof’s cinema had mostly relied on allegorical narratives as a means of expression, until 2010 when he decidedly opted for a more direct form of engagement. In March 2010, Rasoulof was arrested on set while directing a project alongside Jafar Panahi. In the subsequent trial, he was sentenced to six years in prison, a sentence that was later reduced to one year. He was then released on bail.

Mohammad Rasoulof has been awarded many accolades for his films. In 2011, he won Best Director in Un Certain Regard for his film Bé Omid é Didar (Goodbye, 2011) at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2013, he earned the FIPRESCI Prize from the International Federation of Film Critics at Un Certain Regard for Dast Neveshteha Nemisoozand (Manuscripts Don't Burn, 2013). Lastly in 2017, he won the main prize in the Un Certain Regard section for Lerd (A Man of Integrity, 2017) at the Cannes Film Festival. Upon returning to Iran in September 2017, he was officially barred from leaving the country, a verdict which is still in effect. He was accused of “endangering national security” and “spreading propaganda against the Islamic government”. He was sentenced to one year of imprisonment and has been prohibited from membership of any political or social organisations.

All these limitations have not stopped Rasoulof from working. In the past year, he has worked as a producer and scriptwriter on the features Hatchback Ghermez (The Red Hatchback) and Pesar-Madar (Son-Mother). Just recently, Rasoulof completed his work as a scriptwriter, director and producer on the latest feature Sheytan Vojud Nadar (There is No Evil).

Filmography

2002      Gagooman (The Twilight)

2005      Jazireh ahani (Iron Island)

2008      Bade dabur (Head Wind (The Dish))

2009      Keshtzarhay e sepid (The White Meadows)

2013      Dastneveshtehaa nemisoozand (Manuscripts Don't Burn)

2017      Lerd (Man of Integrity)

2020      Sheytan vojud nadarad (There Is No Evil)

★★★★
'Maybe you don't go to Iranian cinema for nail-biting action and suspense. But that's what you are given in this arresting portmanteau film, the Golden Bear winner at last year's Berlin film festival.'
'Dissident Mohammad Rasoulof blasts against his country's profligate use of capital punishment...'There is great technique in the storytelling, and Rasoulof's outrage and nausea at the state-sanctioned murder gives the film passion.'
Peter Bradshaw, THE GUARDIAN


★★★★
'It's a typically forthright and powerful work from the director, who was sentenced to a year in prison in 2020 after three of his films were found to be "propaganda against the system.
Bleakly matter-of-fact in approach, the film has a devastating cumulative power that grows with each story.'
Wendy Ide, THE OBSERVER

'Eloquent, intriguing storytelling.'
THE SUNDAY TIMES

'There Is No Evil takes on grim subject matter but does not confine itself to naturalism or kitchen-sink misery. Rasoulof also illustrates the option to resist and shows the moment of resistance has something liberating and joyous, not so cynical as to dismiss it as futile. He's not so idealistic that he's blind to the consequences of saying no...
Kambole Campbell, SIGHT & SOUND


'Defying a 20-year filmmaking ban, the Iranian auteur made his seventh feature in secret. The first two vignettes are captivating and thrilling, making the chest tighten with anxiety...potent and unsettling.'
Marian Ashioti, LITTLE WHITE LIES

★★★★★
'An enthralling piece of cinema from a starting point of such despair only makes the film shine brighter. Superb across the board, from the convincing and moving performances, the stunning locations, to a plot that asks questions that get to the very heart of human actions and personal responsibility. A truly amazing piece of cinema.'
Dan Carrier,CAMDEN NEW JOURNAL/ISLINGTON TRIBUNAL/WEST END EXTRA

★★★★★
'Intensely scrutinises Iran's use of the death penalty through the lens of four separate episodes....a vital document of the all-pervasive state in an authoritarian regime.
'It feels glib to talk of spoilers in a film with such emotional and aesthetic power as this, but each story has a key moment of revelation or release in which that poser is held. Some of them, as with the second story, 'Birthday', gradually become clear across the narrative, while the first pulls out the rug in its final seconds, and the third has a final act as thrilling and tense as any conventional action film. To reveal those moments here would betray the strength of feeling and attention that they deserve.'
Christopher Hatchell, CINEVUE

★★★★★
'A brave, passionate masterwork with a universal resonance.'
'There is a powerful raw narrative that is full of tenacity and natural hubris.'
'Deeply human odyssey...a work of true mastery that asks for reform.'
Dion Wyn,MOVIEMARKER

★★★★★
'This is Iranian cinema at its very best, in every sense. It's entirely unexpected, profoundly heart-warming and poignant. This is not a didactic movie.'
'Spectacular.'
Victor Fraga, DIRTY MOVIES


★★★★★
'A stellar anthology that serves its political leanings alongside some enthralling and even shocking drama.'
Van Connor, MORNING STAR

★★★★★
‘A brave, passionate masterwork with a universal resonance. Moral choices embed the ethos of this profoundly human tale, and as you watch this story unfurl, you are constantly asking what you would do?

There is blatant honesty from Mohammad Rasoulof in every frame as he portrays the difficulties Iranian citizens go through. There Is No Evil is a work of true mastery that asks for reform.’
Dion Wyn, MOVIE MARKER

★★★★1/2
'Well-made, well-acted...this is one mightily powerful, resonating work.'
Malc Lewis, NEW INTERNATIONALIST

★★★★
'...a rigorous multi-perspective look at the death penalty in Iran.
'A chilling study of the impact and horror of capital punishment.'
James Mottram, TOTAL FILM

★★★★
'Immensely rewarding...offering no easy answers There Is No Evil asks a lot of its audience, but offers just as much in the way of rewards if you're willing to grapple with its questions. Bold in both content and form, Rasoulof melds his script's issue-movie premises with sumptuous directorial choices, never failing prey to the often rather dull kitchen-sink verite styles that can accompany films like this, crafting a deeply involving and provocative look at cruelty and guilt as a result.'
Jack Blackwell,WE LOVE CINEMA

★★★★
'...pristine and deeply humane filmmaking'
Benjamin Poole, MOVIE WAFFLER

★★★★
'Made with passion and conviction...this is certainly a film not to be missed.'
Alexa Dalby.' MOVIES1

‘Assuredly acted and beautifully shot…. showing several sides to the same issue. The choices these men have to make are imposed on them by an inhumane system..As writer/director Mohammad Rasoulof’s film deftly illustrates, these laws have a devastating impact on everyone within this society.’

Rob Aldham, BACKSTREET MAFIA

'Best Movies of 2021'
'A Brilliant Look at Iranians Who Serve as Executioners and Those Who Refuse.
'There Is No Evil” mutates into a riveting thriller, takes a sharp turn into romance, and winds up with a family drama that brings all the individual components together for a poignant open-ended finale.
The scope of the storytelling combines “Pulp Fiction” energy with the structural playfulness of Rasoulof’s fellow Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi, but radiates with a narrative urgency all its own.
The movie provokes the wonder and terror of what it means to live in a world where every resolution brings new questions, and the prospects that a happy ending might carry the greatest risk of all.'
Eric Kohn, Indiewire

Best Movies of 2021
'The impact of There Is No Evil is its pointedness, drifting, all of a sudden, into different moods where what often prevails is a somber realism...grows more urgent for the fact that the movie exists to begin with...there remains great power here.'
Rolling Stone magazine


Best Movies of 2021
'Ferocious, bitter drama...'
Richard Brody, New Yorker

'There Is No Evil Fiercely Confronts a Nation’s Moral Well-Being
Diego Semerene, Slant Magazine

'There Is No Evil is a Major Work of Iranian Cinema and a Testament to the Oppressed
Not since A Short Film About Killing has a filmmaker produced such a thrilling case against capital punishment, an enraging, enthralling, enduring testament to the oppressed.'

Ed Frankl, The Film Stage

'A government-imposed lifetime filmmaking ban doesn't stop Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof from creating a powerful moral case against the country's death penalty.
There Is No Evil" comes across as four films for the price of one, none of its segments anaemic, and each contributing fresh insights to the paradoxes of capital punishment in Iran.'
Peter Debruge, Variety

Interview with Mohammad Rasoulof in Film Comment

Zoom Q&A with Mohammad Rasoulof from Film Forum New York

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