‘Solitude’ (Tanhaei – Farsi) is a 2007 award winning film written and directed by Hojat Ghasemzadeh Asl. The film was featured in this year’s Iranian Film Festival hosted by the National Film Corporation alongside several award winning Farsi films; ‘Memory of the Teacher’, ‘Mangrove’, ‘Story of My Father’s Bike and Me’ and ‘A name’.
A convict, Hamid is given a seven days leave from prison to visit his dying, comatose father. The film explores Hamid’s estrangement from his siblings and his relationship with aunt, mother and girlfriend. The acts are divided by several flashbacks in the run up to the big revelation towards the end. The general composition of the movie is gothic with solemn-dark tones and cloudy landscape. The film’s dark aesthetic complements the plot-line and is intact from the opening scenes in prison to the funerary rites in the end. Solitude also brings a lot of elements from soap-operas to film but with all the maturity of a feature-length film and its mellow film score excellently composed by Saeed Zehni, does justice to the seriousness of the plotline.
‘Solitude’ at times plays like a whodunit thriller while retaining all the emotions of a family drama. But one should not mistake it for some escapist fare. Instead, ‘Solitude’ invites the viewer to closely analyse Hamid’s personal trials through the interaction with the film’s supportive characters. For the audience, each successive act breaks Hamid out of his shell of mystery, making important revelations about the cause of his incarceration and his interpersonal bonds.
Albeit to the film’s gloomy tone, ‘Solitude’ is bookmarked with a sense of optimism with respect to Hamid’s estrangement and his supposed innocence which is hinted by several characters. It is this optimism, coupled by mystery that pushes the plot through.
Shahab Hosseini, who plays Hamid, adds charisma seldom seen in movies of the late 2000s and Hollywood in general. Hosseini synergises the personality required in a lead role with the emotional vulnerability of the prodigal son returning home. The trip begs the audience to be nonchalant; to be a jury as if ‘Solitude’ is Hamid’s trial.
