Terrestrial Verses

In this formally inventive Iranian film structured around nine vignettes, a panoply of everyday Tehran citizens—fathers, filmmakers, schoolgirls, rideshare drivers—are interrogated by various offscreen authority figures and bureaucrats intent on oppressing their individualism.One big reason the Iranian regime has held onto power for so long, despite mass outcry and civil disobedience, is because of the everyday authority figures who enforce its strict beliefs. From business owners to teachers to policemen upholding the laws and expectations, supposedly mundane tasks such as shopping for clothes, interviewing for a job, or looking for a lost dog can quickly get you into trouble if you don’t follow the rules. Presenting a variety of these oppressive scenarios within a series of one-act scenes, TERRESTRIAL VERSES is a satirical gut punch that puts viewers in the shoes of ordinary Iranians of all walks of life, just trying to get by. Craftily pieced together, each vignette presents an everyday person in the center of the frame, talking to an authority figure just off camera. And while we never see the faces of any of these off-screen voices, their presence becomes crushingly enormous, leading to a poetically destructive finale. —G.S.