Tehran Taboo

A harrowing, if sometimes hysterical account of repression and hypocrisy in modern Iran is presented in German-based Ali Soozandeh's debut feature. Setting rotoscoped characters against a mix of hand-drawn and computer-generated backdrops, Soozandeh generates an arresting sense of authenticity and immediacy that offsets the prosaic nature of the storyline and the characterisation and his tendency to couch points in melodramatic terms. Agreeing to become a judge's mistress in the hope he can secure her divorce, prostitute Pari (Elmira Rafizadeh) befriends pregnant neighbour Sara (Zahra Amir Ebrahimi) and struggling musician, Babak (Arash Marandi). However, their worlds are turned upside down by Babak's one-night stand with bride-to-be Donya (Negar Mona Alizadeh)and a drunken prank involving Sara's phone. With Pari's young son acting as a silent witness to the often lurid goings on, this may not always be particularly subtle and its ending feels calculatingly inevitable. But it's visually innovative, quick-witted, thematically bold and unsettlingly sincere.