
Missagh Zareh, Mahsa Rostami, and Setareh Maleki in The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Noni Ford considers the familial tensions at the heart of Mohammad Rasoulof’s thriller.
There’s a conversation that appears between a husband and wife where they discuss the moral ethics of the actions that the husband’s job is asking of him. We see him wrestling with his instincts and questioning this pathway forward in his career while also considering the social benefits to be gained from his choices in this moment. It’s a scene that is potentially one of the most important ones in Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig. The story shows the ties in a family devolving as we sink into the narrative and this scene proves so pivotal because it shows how far things fall apart by the conclusion of the film.

Soheila Golestani, Mahsa Rostami, and Setareh Maleki in The Seed of the Sacred Fig
When Iman is given the role of an investigative judge in Tehran, he sees a life presented to him that would naturally lead to better accommodation and wealth for his family. Yet attached to this offer is the high degree of risk his job opens up to him and his family. He is given a gun for protection, which he at first seems somewhat careless of until mounting protests begin to spread as people rally against the authoritarian government of the country. Suddenly his gun is kept with him everywhere he goes and as physically close to him as possible. What once was a careful and loving family man becomes consumed with paranoia as he starts to fear his anonymity and safety are being threatened. Soon after an argument at dinner with his daughters, who share their skepticism of the government, he wakes up the next morning to find his gun has gone missing.
A search is done of the apartment but as more time passes and the gun continues to remain lost to him, he starts upending all the familial relationships he has to attempt to assert control of the situation. During another moment in the film, we see a brief glimpse of Iman with his family a few years ago and we catch sight of a jovial father which is a far cry from the present-day reality where he scrutinizes every member of his family with escalating aggression. Again, this memory helps to highlight exactly the extremes that we are seeing him reach and his transformation due to fear and anger at his condition.

The family in The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Amongst the daughters and their mother, we see a shift in attitudes as they see the tides turning in society. The oldest daughter, Rezvan, welcomes a friend who has come to the city to attend college, and this visit sets her mother, Najmeh, on edge. Her friend quickly aligns herself with the protest movement which opens her up to danger from the country’s regime. Najmeh, knowing exactly how precarious Iman’s new job is, becomes worried about her daughter’s association with this friend. She draws several hard lines when it comes to housing and receiving this young woman at their home, and most of her anxiety comes from thinking about the way this puts her girls at risk. Rezvan balks at Najmeh’s rigidity and unwillingness to consider that the government is not without fault. The youngest daughter Sana is receptive to her sister’s ideas and loyal to her too, which is tested when both parents try to persuade her to give her sister up for the theft of the gun.
Each woman in the house has a very different reaction to the circumstances they are in as Iman becomes crazed in his quest to retrieve the missing item. Their reactions reveal a generational divide as they strive to protect each other and to try to return to some sense of normalcy in the family. The divide is also shown in how each woman views a few escalation points from Iman, some thinking he’ll pull back on the intensity at some point and some suspecting things will only be getting worse. In the background of all these stories is the violent real-world government crackdown on dissent and the ruthless legislation that dooms people to death without a fair trial or appropriate representation. The family in the film is only a microcosm amongst the civil unrest, but it’s an important one to anchor us as an audience in the fight for freedom of speech and expression against a patriarchal, traditionalist power structure.
Rasoulof very effectively teases out the mystery of the gun, balancing tension and intrigue well until even I had a theory on what the outcome would be of the search. As Iman and Najmeh look for a culprit and are at points even suspicious of each other, it becomes more interesting to try and formulate who stole it and for what purpose. While some characters are more innocent than others, none of the central cast features a one-note performance, which makes the mystery harder to solve. Each person is scared and approaches that feeling of hopelessness differently. And most importantly, no one is a prop in any scene; they all add to the richness of the story and the complexity of the scenarios they are trapped in. This film is masterful in its use of silence to convey tragedy, terror, shock, and mounting pressure. It finds a way to make even these pauses in speech and stillness drive the movie forward and doesn’t break up the pace as the finale comes upon us.

Mohammad Rasoulof on the Cannes red carpet, holding up photos of the absent Soheila Golestani and Missagh Zareh
Rasoulof and members of his cast and crew had to flee Iran due to the depictions of the country in the film. Before escaping, Rasoulof was also handed down an eight-year prison sentence along with further retribution for the contents of this film. Soheila Golestani and Missagh Zareh, who played the parts of the parents, are still in Iran and unable to leave. The Iranian government’s reaction to the film and attempted censuring of Rasoulof’s art communicates anger for the depictions of social discord shown in the film. However, by attempting to remove it from viewership, they have only made its message and reach wider. There is truth in this film, a truth that has avoided all attempts to be buried, which is why it is so important that it is seen. This cast and crew made this film knowing the backlash it would face while also knowing it was important for this work to be seen and heard despite the consequences.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig will be screened at IU Cinema on January 30 and February 1 as part of the International Art House Series.