Divorce Iranian Style

Filmmakers Kim Longinotto and Ziba Mir-Hosseini take their camera into a Teheranian family court to record the trials of four women seeking divorce for varying reasons (the first surprise is that the filmmakers--both women--were allowed to film the proceedings in the first place). While the reasons for these suits are not so very different from complaints one might hear in a Western divorce court--from abusiveness and neglect, to sexual and psychological incompatibility--the legal system and cultural protocols that mediate the process couldn't be more dissimilar. In the closed world of the court, women are checked for "proper attire" (lipstick not allowed) at the courthouse door, and patriarchy and religious stricture shape and influence every aspect of their day. The real surprise is that the women here are far from the passive victims one might expect in such a culture: they are by turns crafty, duplicitous, aggressive, and uniformly strong-willed in pursuing their freedom and their slim rights (it's also surprising how uniformly feckless and pathetic the husbands are in contrast). Although the verité style employed by the filmmakers is at times very moving and effective, a bit more backstory and narrative would have helped fill in the blanks, and more judicious editing might have made watching these rancorous and often very sad proceedings for 80 minutes a little less numbing. Despite these small flaws, Divorce Iranian Style would be a useful addition to any collection dealing with women's or Middle Eastern studies. Aud: H, C, P. (G. Handman)