3 WOMEN

Directed By: Manijeh Hekmat

Review By: Kim Jindra

3 WOMEN explores the generational struggle between Iranian mothers and daughters in modern day Iran.

Minou is the middle generation and recognizably westernized.  She is divorced, controlling and obsessed with her job.  Her university-aged daughter, Pegah, resents the pressure and in one of my favorite movie moments, deposits her cell phone in the charity box as she escapes to the desert and tranquility.

Minou is also responsible for her mother who is suffering from dementia.   As the film opens she is trying to squeeze her mother's doctor visit into an afternoon of errand running around Tehran in her pink 4 wheel drive vehicle.  And she is unsuccessfully trying to reach her daughter by phone.  This is not the usual picture the media gives of Iranian women.

Minou is beautiful, self assured and assertive with her male colleagues.   She is an expert rug weaver and is on a mission to save a particular rug, a national treasure, before it can be exported for resale.  When she can't stop the sale she steals the rug and runs.  The rug dealer calls for a meeting so she stops in Tehran traffic.  While they meet, her mother absconds with the rug. 

This is a wonderful film.  It is also a celebration of self, self reliance and family.   The performances are top notch especially Niki Karimi as Minou.   Director Manijeh Hekmat carefully blends old/new traditions and values in a tapestry of colors as rich as the Persian rug Minou hopes to preserve.  More than anything, this film reminds me of a couple of Iranian girls who were my students.  I would love to see the women they've become.