Inheritance

Filmmaker Aggie Ebrahimi Bazaz, an American woman of Iranian descent, also narrates this account of her family's life in the United States. In the 1970s, her mother, Parastoo, married an engineer with ties to the U.S. After moving abroad, the couple had a son, but when the regime changed, they moved back to Iran, where Aggie was born. In 1988, Parastoo and her children settled in America, expecting the father to join them, but he never did. Instead, he returned his wife's dowry to her family and took up with another woman. From what Bazaz can determine, he started other families, and didn't stay with any of them for very long, but she has no theories about his serial abandonment (he also appears to have cheated on Parastoo during their marriage). Throughout, Bazaz peppers her mother with questions, because she believes that her father's absence has contributed to her difficulty in establishing relationships, but Parastoo doesn't want to live in the past. Regardless, she's saved every remnant of her marriage, from letters to home movies. While an interesting story lies at the center here, Bazaz undercuts the emotional potential by consistently focusing the camera on hands and backs instead of faces, which feels both distancing and distracting. Still, Inheritance does have value as a psychological study of an inquisitive daughter and an unsentimental mother. A strong optional purchase. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)