Under the Skin of the City (Zir-e Poust-e Shahr) (2001)

87% of critics liked it
(30 reviews)
72% of users liked it
(683 ratings)

Rakhshan Bani Etemad's urban drama centers on Tuba (Golab Adineh), a factory worker and matriarch of a raucous Tehran family. Her older daughter is pregnant and married to an abusive husband. The younger one, a high school student, is consumed with worry over a neighbor girl who suffers abuse at the… More Rakhshan Bani Etemad's urban drama centers on Tuba (Golab Adineh), a factory worker and matriarch of a raucous Tehran family. Her older daughter is pregnant and married to an abusive husband. The younger one, a high school student, is consumed with worry over a neighbor girl who suffers abuse at the hands of her father. Her youngest son is caught up in political radicalism and in danger of derailing his college aspirations, and the older one, Abbas (Mohammad Reza Forutan), is disgusted with his dead-end job and will do almost anything to realize his dream of moving to Japan to support the family. After losing all his money in what turns out to be a scam, Abbas' desperation gets the better of his judgement and he becomes involved in a drug deal that nearly costs him his life. ~ Tom Vick, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 32 min.
Directed By: Rakhshan Bani Etemad
Written By: Rakhshan Bani Etemad, Farid Mostafavi
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Apr 4, 2003 Limited
On DVD: Mar 16, 2004
Studio: Magnolia Pictures

Critic Reviews

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press
Sometimes fuzzy in structure, the movie is also uncompromisingly realistic, taking us into Tehran offices and factories and onto construction sites.
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
Bani-Etemad's womanist bent is stark and bracing.
Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News
Ms. Bani-Etemad seems to have a firm hand on the social pulse on her nation, particularly the slowly changing roles of women in a place where change is eyed with both desire and suspicion.
Robert Denerstein, Denver Rocky Mountain News
The movie might lack the artistic accomplishment of better-known Iranian movies, but it tempers its melodrama with unflinching willingness to take us inside lives that otherwise would remain remote to us.
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
This splendid film is no mere polemic, for Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, often called the first lady of Iranian cinema, is above all an accomplished storyteller and dramatist who understands the evocative power of sound and image.
Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter
In the process of pushing the envelope of acceptance, Bani-Etemad carries off the neat trick of presenting an involving, beautifully cast film that portrays contemporary Iranian issues in a remarkably universal light.
Kim Morgan, Oregonian
With understated skill and absolute authenticity, the film builds with enough layers that by its powerful ending, you'll feel as if you have been kicked in the stomach.
Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central
Bani-Etemad's gift is her ability to make immediate the human struggle at the heart of a family caught in a time and place so unmoored from tradition that ritual has become cruelty.
Frank Swietek, One Guy's Opinion
Strikes a melodramatic, soap operatic tone...doesn't penetrate deep enough to touch a raw emotional nerve.
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone, TheMovieChicks.com
Fine performances in a family melodrama that doesn't quite stand out as particularly special.
Edward Havens, FilmJerk.com
A lyrical, mesmerizing look at the struggles one average Iranian family faces in their daily lives.
Larry Carroll, Countingdown.com
A series of melodramatic moments that will have the audience rolling their eyes in disbelief - if they can keep them open, that is.
Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly
Distinguished, like so much contemporary Iranian cinema, by the way its striking visuals and strategic use of sound tell the underlying story.
, E! Online
Bani-Etemad uses practical characters and somber camerawork to tell an inspirational tale and reveal the levels of sexism in Iran.
Maria Garcia, Film Journal International
Bani-Etemad shows us Iranian family life from the perspective of a nuclear family, one that bears an uncomfortable resemblance to the ones we know and love.

Read all 15 critic reviews

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Cast

Golab Adineh
as Tuba
Mohammad Reza Forutan
as Abbas
Baran Kosari
as Daughter

See full cast

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