Considering I just saw it a week ago, I guess it's too soon to say that Circumstance changed my life. But as I was watching this amazing and heartbreaking film, I felt such a sense of luck and gratitude...and that feeling has stayed with me.
Circumstance takes place in modern day Iran; a country that has knowledge and access to "western" culture, but whose own culture is extremely religious, conservative, and punitive. Two teen girls, Atafeh and Shireen, navigate and negotiate the culture they were born into through small acts of typical teen rebellion. They pass each other notes at school, sass back to their parents, and doff their hijabs in favor of sparkly tank tops and tight dresses when they secretly attend parties. The only difference between Atafeh and Shireen's lives and the life of a teenager in the United States is that if Atafeh and Shireen get caught, the consequences would be severe--we're talking prison, "virginity checks", and worse.
In addition to partying and rock music, Atafeh and Shireen experiment with sexuality--both with boys and with each other. It becomes clear that they love each other as more than friends, though they don't have the words to express this love. Are Shireen and Atafeh lesbians, or are they simply indulging in a schoolgirl crush? It hardly matters. What matters is that throughout the film, the two young women lean on each other for the support that their families, teachers, and boyfriends cannot provide. They are the definition of soul mates, and, sadly, their culture and families conspire to keep them apart.
Spoiler!
After the two girls get in trouble with the law, Shireen is married to Atafeh's zealous and controlling brother, Mehran. Although Shireen tells Atafeh that she married Mehran so that the two girls could always be together, under one roof, it's obvious that the marriage is the wedge that will drive the girls apart.
End spoiler.
Although the film ends on a hopeful note (at least for one of the girls), Circumstance is...not so much depressing as it is eye-opening. The amount of institutionalized sexism and hatred toward women that Atafeh and Shireen face is staggering. Even Atafeh's father, who is relatively liberal and not religious, treats his daughter not as if she were a young woman about to enter adulthood on her own terms, but as if she were an ungrateful child in need of constant supervision and protection. Circumstance's message is all the more effective in because it reveals the insidiousness of benevolent sexism (i.e. women are in need of special protection)--as well as overt misogyny. It's agony to see Atafeh and Shireen driven apart because they need each other so badly--for strength, for encouragement, for love, and for all the emotional and psychological support they damn well aren't getting from anyone else in their lives.
Circumstance is one of the most deeply emotional (without being cloying) films I've seen in a while. Anyone who believes that feminism's work has been accomplished should see this movie, as well as those who know that we still have a long way to go on the road toward equality and respect.
5 out of 5 stars
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