Two Women (Do Zan) (1998)

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Writer and director Tahmineh Milani presents a feminist message which is unusually strong for an Iranian film -- so much so that it took seven years for the screenplay to be passed by state censors. Do Zan/Two Women concerns two friends who meet while attending college in Tehran, Fereshteh (Niki… More Writer and director Tahmineh Milani presents a feminist message which is unusually strong for an Iranian film -- so much so that it took seven years for the screenplay to be passed by state censors. Do Zan/Two Women concerns two friends who meet while attending college in Tehran, Fereshteh (Niki Karimi) and Roya (Marila Zare'i). Fereshteh is being stalked by an obviously psychotic young man, who has threatened her at knife-point. Fereshteh tries to laugh it off, telling the lunatic that she and Roya are too strong to be threatened by him. One day, however, the stalker becomes convinced Fereshteh's visiting cousin is actually her boyfriend; enraged, he throws acid into the cousin's face. Fereshteh's father, convinced she has disgraced the family, takes her away from school and back to their home in the country. The stalker is not so easily thrown off course; he follows Fereshteh home and implicates her in a serious traffic accident that lands her in jail. Roya is able to go on to a happy life with a fulfilling job and stable marriage, while Fereshteh must fight simply to be treated as a human being. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi