The Seed of the Sacred Fig review: Family drama serves as microcosm of political repression

In cinema, family dramas are rarely just about the people sitting around the dinner table.

Whatever arguments, long-festering resentments or even love that persist between them, there’s often something else at play. But few films have tackled the fraught relationship between a government and its people as well as The Seed of the Sacred Fig does through its core family unit.

The Iranian film (with funding from Germany and France) written and directed by Mohammad Rasoulof was shot in secret precisely because of its astute criticism of the country’s oppressive regime.

Its filmmaker is now a political refugee, exiled in Germany. If he returns home, he faces eight years in prison and a literal whipping. But it’s not just the story surrounding the film that needs everyone to bear witness, it’s also the story within the frame.

Rasoulof was inspired by the 2022 protests which saw thousands of people take to the streets after the death-in-custody of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who was arrested for violating the country’s mandatory hijab laws.

That uprising is intrinsically linked to The Seed of the Sacred Fig, spurring its characters to reckon with the patriarchal and tyrannical dynamics that have denied women basic rights.

The family in the film is led by Iman (Missagh Zareh), an investigating judge in the revolutionary courts. He is promoted at the start of the film, and he and his wife Najmeh (Soheila Golestani) are excited about the elevated status and potential for larger state housing.

Najmeh defers to Iman and ensures their teenage daughters Rezvan (Mahsa Rostami) and Sana (Setareh Maleki) respect their father and his hard work. No, they cannot dye their hair or paint their nails.

Iman, we’re told, is a good, well-meaning man. He has ethical quandaries at work when he’s expected to rubber stamp convictions and sentences his superiors require. He’s also not comfortable with the gun he’s been issued “for safety”.

But what presented at first as conservative paternalism slowly creeps into something else.

Rezvan and Sana are both watching and listening to the protests happening outside, obsessively scrolling through videos on social media and distraught about the experiences of friends and fellow students who have defied an unjust regime.

Rasoulof incorporates footage from the real protest to hit home that his film is not dealing with hypotheticals.

When Iman’s gun disappears, his suspicion turns into paranoia which turns into volatility. He doesn’t trust his family and as the patriarch to three women, he will impose his will. By the time the film reaches its gripping finale, your nerves are frayed.

The family home becomes a microcosm of the wider conflict. It’s an elegant story device to explore the power plays inside Iran, and how the youth are pushing back.

The daughters are filled with questions and curiosity, as well as frustrations and, eventually, rage. The mother is symbolic of an older generation who accepts the regime’s word that its paternalism serves god, but sees that it’s far more complicated.

The father is faced with many choices throughout the film and his reasoning for going down one path and not the other speaks to an entitlement that is chilling and all too real. In this society (and not only in this society), the humanity and agency of women are not considerations.

With The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Rasoulof has crafted a searing morality tale powered by charged performances. It won’t fail to move and horrify you.

Rating: 4/5

The Seed of the Sacred Fig is in cinemas