Fireworks Wednesday

The opening sequence in Iranian writer-director Asghar Farhadi's deeply felt third feature sets the tone for the entire piece. While riding into town on her fiancé's motorbike, Rouhi's chador (head covering) becomes caught in the wheel, causing her grumbling husband-to-be to stop the bike. It's a minor bump on the road to Rouhi's (Taraneh Alidoosti) new job as a housekeeper for an upper middle class couple who are undergoing major relationship bumps. Morteza (Hamid Farokh-nejad), who is preoccupied with business matters, is nursing a bandaged hand after breaking a window during a domestic dispute with his wife Mojdeh (Hedieh Tehrani), who suspects her husband of having an affair with single neighbor Mrs. Simi (Pantea Bahram). In addition to the human fireworks, real fireworks can be heard all over the city as Tehran prepares for the commencement of the Iranian New Year. In contrasting the age and class differences between the two couples (Rouhi brags to a fellow domestic that her fiancé is “madly in love with me"), Fireworks Wednesday explores the social hierarchies of Iranian society through the prism of the battle between the sexes. Highly recommended. (K. Fennessy)[DVD Review—Mar. 7, 2017—Grasshopper, 104 min., not rated, $29.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD, 2006's Fireworks Wednesday is presented in a restored edition, with extras including audio commentary by author Tina Hassannia (Asghar Farhadi: Life and Cinema) and critic Amir Soltani, and trailers. Bottom line: a handsome new edition of this fine Iranian drama.]