Leila and her brothers: the best film of the year is in theaters, and we met her director

ALERT : the best film of the year was released in theaters this Wednesday 24th August.

Because you have to see Leila and her brothers

At just 33, Iranian director Saeed Roustaee convinced us with his first film Tehran law. This did not prevent that with Leila and her brotherswe took a monumental slap.

Above all, we must not be discouraged by the 2h39 that the film lasts. We do not see them pass and we do too difficult to return to reality when the screen goes black. And for good reason. The actors put on an impressive performance. They punctuate this fresco excitingfull of twists and moments of a incredible power.

Fineness of dialogues where every line turns the brain, laughs or breaks the heart, density of every character, richness and depth of themes approached (the tragic absurdity of patriarchy but also of financial capitalism, precariousness, the family, the last days of an elderly person, etc.), Saeed Roustaee’s film does not nothing to envy to a Francis Ford Coppola or a Martin Scorses. We infinitely regret Cannes’ choice of not having awarded this masterpiece, even better (and that’s nothing to say) than ParasitePalme d’Or deserved at the festival in 2019.

Lose had the opportunity to meet Saeed Roustaee.

Interview with director Saeed Roustaee, child prodigy of Iranian cinema

To miss. At the cinema you get the impression of always seeing films centered on a single character, but this is not the case with Leila and her brothers. Do you care about making films by filming the collective rather than an individual?

Saeed Roustae. It is true that the protagonist was not Leila but family. My idea was really to film a family, and it is within that family that we see individualities arise. Then there are also shots that, on the contrary, unfold in space. This is the case in the beginning, at the factory. I wanted to broaden the perspectives, to show the magnitude of a disaster through the closure of factories and the loss of thousands of jobs.

To miss. On the contrary, there are extremely short snaps that tell equally dense things … like this stealthy moment where Alireza catches the attention of a woman we suppose she loved.

Saeed Roustae. (laughs) This is my favorite scene from the movie!

To miss. In the film, the dialogues have the same success and importance as the staging. Still, you’d think a well-directed movie already says so much that it hardly needs dialogue. Was it a challenge for you to reconcile the two?

Saeed Roustae. To make the film, we looked for a very small apartment. We glued one of 30 m2 and another of 40 m2. And we met at 70 people in 90 m2. Was the first time in the history of Iranian cinema.

Indeed, it really is a space in which the characters never have the opportunity to be alone and reflect. That’s why they say it all, they dig into the lives of others, they think aloud and there is no inner space. So in reality the dialogue and the staging went hand in hand.

To miss. During the film, I laughed a lot. However, in the end, I cried … as if I realized in old age the emotional power of the film. Do you pay attention to humor when writing?

Saeed Roustae. The film is dramatically funny And funny in a dramatic way. The situations are so desperate and absurd that they become fun. When the actors discovered the script, they were amazed. Yet this is only reality! There is a moment in the film where, the time taken by the characters crosses the road, the dollar price has doubled. This is a reality. Yet it is completely absurd.

The idea of ​​the film he came to me because I have friends who have been saving for 10 years to buy an apartment. After 10 years they raised the sum, only in the meantime the prices had exploded … so much so that they had to buy a property smaller than their original home.

To miss. Do you want to tell us about your working method, to make such meticulous and virtuous films?

Saeed Roustae. I still many ideas. When I publish a film, I already have a lot of ideas for the next one. But among his ideas there are always some one who takes me in his arms. I’m not the one looking for the idea, it’s the idea that comes looking for me.

Then, when I have an idea for a film, I write, write, write. My whole life is work. I have been writing for a long time and it is only when I consider that the film is finished that I start doing location scouting for filming, talking about it with the actors, starting shooting with a small camera.

Another peculiarity is that I have it a precise idea for everything. Unless the actors have an even better idea than the first, everything is as I wrote it.

To miss. Finally, I would like to know your opinion on a great mystery of life. Why do Iranians make the best films in the world? It is incredible, I have the impression that as soon as I see an Iranian film, even the most modest one, it is excellent!

Saeed Roustae. (laughs) It’s because we are part of a story! That of Iranian cinema. We inherit this story.

Special thanks to Asal Bagheri, translator and interpreter in French and Persian. This interview would have been different without the immense quality of his work.

Featured image credit: © Amirhossein Shojaei