The Wedlock – Feature Film (UK Premiere at the 4th London Iranian Film Festival)

Mansoor and Mohadeseh and their fourteen-year-old daughter, Negin, appear to be a normal urban family, living by traditional values, in contemprary Iran. However, after Mohadeseh's trendy niece and her husband arrive in a blur of fast cars, cigarettes and Western music to remodel the their dated house, the family's domestic stability is thrown into chaos. The young couple's modern ideas on relationships, gender and designs for the house soon lead to conflict and threaten to lead Negin astray. Gradually, however, it is revealed that nobody is quite as they seem, and both couples must confront the secrets and shames that have been lingering under the surface of their marriages. Thoughtful, compelling and slickly shot,'The Wedlock' is an exquisite and subtle exploration of marriage in today's Iran, which manages to reflect upon themes of faith, family, women's rights and Westernisation without forcing its own political agenda.