Dazzling Iranian family tale enriches, entertains; cursing.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Language
a lot
Strong language includes "bitch," "damn," "goddamn," and several uses of "f--k." Siblings say "stupid" and "shut up." Middle-finger gesture. Some characters' racist attitudes are reflected by discriminatory comments about immigrants, including a White man referring to a diverse group of Asians as a "refugee camp."
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Brief suicidal ideation. Guns pulled out to settle a score, but violence is avoided. Scary moments related to illness/health conditions, including the bloody and emotional delivery of a stillborn baby.
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Queer, female-forward story told by a queer female writer-director and a mostly female crew. Leila (Layla Mohammadi) is a first-generation Iranian American woman who self-identifies as a lesbian. Iranian American immigrant experience is central to the plot, as are Iranian customs, music, dance, cooking, beliefs, iconography, language. Women are the core of the story, are portrayed as strong, resourceful, acting with agency. A cisgender heterosexual male character who plays a drag queen in a Broadway show is kind, supportive, open-minded, vulnerable, and confident in his masculinity. While Leila's father is a doctor, most other doctors in the film are women. Most supporting actors are of AAPI or other non-White backgrounds.
Be the narrator of your own story, and don't let labels or gossip define you. You're more resilient than you know. Themes of family and resilience, as well as honesty, courage, integrity, perseverance.
Positive Role Models
a lot
Characters have flaws (stubbornness, insecurity, etc.) but are generally well-intentioned. Shireen is the glue that holds her family together. When faced with adversity, she finds a way. When faced with prejudice, she finds opportunity. And when faced with heartbreak and devastating betrayal, she finds compassion. Leila is still finding herself, but what she does know of herself, she doesn't compromise. Leila's many family members are very supportive of one another.
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that The Persian Version is an entertaining multigenerational dramedy about a large Iranian American immigrant family. Based partly on writer-director Maryam Keshavarz' own life, it centers on Leila (Layla Mohammadi), who's fighting for her more traditional parents to accept the fact that she's a lesbian while also trying to understand the mother (Niousha Noor) whom she both admires and despises. Keshavarz uses comedy to illuminate the challenges of being an Iranian living in the United States and of being a woman in a patriarchal society, as well as the complexity of mother-daughter relationships. Persian culture is central to the story, both in the present-day U.S.-set scenes and the ones that take place in 1960s Iran. A passionate make-out session leads to off-camera sex, and there are a few crude remarks, as well as swearing ("bitch," "f--k," "goddamn," etc.). Characters smoke in the scenes set in the 1960s–'80s, there's brief suicidal ideation, guns are pulled out to settle a score (but violence is avoided), and characters experience scary moments related to illness/health conditions, including the bloody and emotional delivery of a stillborn baby. But with messages about writing your own story, consciously breaking away from labels or gossips, and believing that you're more resilient than you know, it's a fantastic watch for teens. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
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What's the Story?
In THE PERSIAN VERSION, Leila (Layla Mohammadi) blames her failed marriage to Elena (Mia Foo) on her mother, Shireen (Niousha Noor), for refusing to accept Leila's sexuality. When Mamanjoon (Bella Warda) admits to Leila that Shireen left Iran in scandal as a young woman (Kamand Shafieisabet), Leila tries to piece together her mother's mysterious past.
Cinema is getting better and better at welcoming international, queer, and female stories, and thank goodness -- because Maryam Keshavarz' comedic family drama is all three in one. Absolutely funny, completely devastating, and hard-cry heartwarming, The Persian Version has a modern filmmaking approach that involves animation and dance numbers, with the light tone bringing balance to the heavier, more emotional scenes. Moviegoers of all backgrounds will be the better for seeing this edgy but fun, feel-good movie. Its fresh take on what it means to be an American will leave you smiling -- and hopefully open a door for mothers and daughters to see and appreciate each other for both their similarities and their differences.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how The Persian Version uses a combination of comedy and drama to portray the experience of being Muslim and Iranian in the United States with empathy. How do the characters counter stereotypes? Do you think Leila's story would be as authentic if the writer-director wasn't also a queer, female, first-generation Iranian American? Why is positive, accurate representation important?
What does it mean to write your own story? Parents, how have you stepped outside of expectations to be true to yourself?
What is "grit"? How does Shireen demonstrate that quality, which is also called perseverance?
For mothers and daughters, in what ways are you alike? In what ways are you different? Why do you think this particular relationship can get emotionally complicated, and what can you do to try to keep your lines of communication open?
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By Tara McNamara
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