To fully understand what this movie is about, let's first understand the country of Iran.
Iran is a country where all people believe in Islam, the unity of politics and religion, and the supremacy of theocracy.
Regarding the characteristics of Islam, I will interpret them one by one later.
First look at a few important people in the salesman. They are: the
male and
female protagonists, the
old man
Babak
, the former tenant (sex worker)
and the above characters are the key figures in promoting the development of the whole plot.
First of all, let's look at the male protagonist. He is a school teacher. He is popular with students at school. In his spare time, he and his wife do stage plays together. Usually busy with life. Later, as a family member of the victim, he even agreed to his wife's request not to call the police. On the one hand, it shows that he respects his wife's choice. On the other hand, it may also be that he feels that it is also a very shameful thing to let everyone know that his wife has been abused by other men. So he didn't take the initiative to mention it to anyone other than the neighbors who knew about it. As a high-ranking intellectual, he still tends to take private revenge. Maybe we can get a glimpse of the clues of the whole society.
The heroine, who can act in dramas, is at least an intellectual. There is a big contradiction in the play that after being violated, he is unwilling to solve the problem by calling the police, but tends to self-enclose and bear it alone. In the entire social class, intellectuals still deal with it in this way. One can imagine how the poor peasant women should deal with this situation. From the attitude of the heroine towards the old man at the end, it can be seen that she is kind-hearted. Maybe it's the influence of religion on her.
The old man, a liar, a perpetrator, belongs to the middle and lower classes of society. This old man often prostitutes outside, but he has a high status in his own family. The family respects him very much, and to a certain extent it is also a reflection of the male status in Iranian society. There was a devout Muslim wife who did something against the teachings herself. It's a real irony. It can be expected that if what he has done is exposed, his family status and social status will plummet. In the country of Iran, the status of men is significantly higher than that of women. Iran, on the other hand, is relatively open among Islamic countries. If it is Saudi Arabia, this phenomenon will only be more serious.
Babak, the male protagonist's drama colleague, is also the landlord of the sex worker. He looks a bit like an artist. He is willing to lend the house to the male protagonist to live in, which shows that he is very warmhearted. But he also likes to prostitute. The former tenant maintains a close relationship, and at the same time, he is reluctant to let other people know about his preference. Because this kind of preference seems so abnormal in Islamic countries.
A former tenant, also a so-called sex worker. She never appears in the entire film, not even a voice. But it is a very important clue in the whole film. To pretend to be angry and let the old man come to her previous address is just to play a prank. This person may not be inherently bad, but he has done something bad. led to a series of subsequent stories. It can be seen from Babak's dialogue with her that she is not doing well, and she has not found a new place to live, and this profession must be very discriminated against in Islamic society. This can be confirmed by the attitude of the neighbors. But why are there still sex workers in such a country? Anyone who has studied the market economy knows the relationship between supply and demand. If there is a need, there will naturally be a provider. People have all kinds of emotions and six desires. If they don't get a reasonable release, bad things like rape and murder will happen. So sexual desire, as a very normal human desire, is severely restricted in Islamic countries. Men are okay, especially women. In Saudi Arabia, they can only leak eyes and hands. It is conceivable to what extent human nature is suppressed. Therefore, this sex worker is the point of contradiction in the whole film. The neighbors hate her existence, but she is so real. It can be said that she is the result of suppressed human nature.
After analyzing the characters in the film, in fact, what the director wants to talk about is already in front of us.
The contradiction between the male and female protagonists: how to solve the contradiction of this problem.
The contradiction between the heroine and the old man: the contradiction between the hurt the heroine suffered and the heroine's own kindness.
The contradiction between the old man and the male protagonist: The contradiction between the old man's family, social status and the dignity of the male protagonist.
The contradiction between Babak and the male protagonist: The influence of Babak's image and the male protagonist's disgust and concern for sex workers.
The contradiction between the former tenant and the male owner's family: the contradiction between the male owner's family and the former tenant's things.
All these contradictions point to a big theme, the conflicts and choices of individuals when they face the contradictions of morality, religion and human nature.
It can be seen from this that the director's ability to tell stories is really above many people. The so-called 42000000000000000000000000000000,0000000000000,00,0ds, uses the extremely low cost, obtains the Oscar for the best foreign language film, is not only the embodiment of Oscar's political intention (the Trump). Perhaps we should pay more attention to the work itself.
The director's last work is still elaborating on this theme, but it is even more brilliant.
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