Iman is nervous. Raised simply in the Iranian countryside, he is under pressure to succeed in his elevation from Government Investigator to Judge. His promotion would mean a larger official government-sponsored house in a safe community for his wife and two daughters, as well as more money and status.
But his new job carries with it responsibilities which test his morality and try his familial obligations. His workload increases so that he cannot possibly know if the death warrants he is forced to sign are just. His boss explains that the government demands his compliance, whether or not he has read the documents or agrees with the sentences.
Iman (Missagh Zareh) is given a gun to defend himself should he be confronted as a representative of the harsh theocratic government policies and advised to keep a low profile because of the regime’s increasing unpopularity. But the rising street demonstrations engulf his family. His college student daughter Rezvan (Mahsa Rostami) joins in the protests and is further drawn in when her friend is severely beaten, disfigured, and loses an eye. Even mere participation in the mounting street demonstrations carries a five-year sentence.
The disappearance of Iman’s gun initiates a series of events that pit family members against each other. At first, his wife, Najmeh (Soheila Golestani), is blindly obedient to Iman. She admonishes the daughters Rezvan and the younger Sana (Setareh Maleki) against daring to question their father’s dictates. But as events unfold, each of the family members recasts their relationships against the backdrop of their surroundings.
Veteran Director Mohammad Rasoulof’s careful selection of cast yields an increasingly complex portrait of a family cracking along the fault lines of extreme social change. The mother and daughters’ interactions are developed with particular sensitivity. They question and then challenge the patriarchy of their home, school, and culture. Growing up and even growing older in dire circumstances sheds a harsh, unforgiving light.
Rasoulof has become quite familiar with where such focus leads. Even this esteemed director has felt the backlash of the draconian Iranian authorities. The Mullahs have had him imprisoned three times, censored his works, tried to intimidate his staff, and imposed a ban on his travel outside of Iran. Because of what they deemed “propaganda against the regime,” the Islamic Republic’s government enforcers interrogated cast and crew in an attempt to get Rouselof to withdraw his film from international festivals and restrict its distribution.
Through a courageous secret journey, the director and some cast and crew were able to escape Iran, traveling on foot incognito through small villages across the border. Actors Soheila Golestani and Missagh Zareh were not as fortunate. They are still being held in Iran. The film itself was also smuggled out of Iran before it could be completed. Post-production took place in Germany.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig has been nominated for Academy Award for Best International Film Feature in this year’s Academy Awards to be held on Sunday, March 2, 2025. The film’s title describes the “strangler fig,” which grows up and around an established tree, slowly killing it by depriving it of sunlight and nutrients, leaving only a hollow core at the center. It is taken to characterize the ruling theocratic authoritarian regime in Iran.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig can be seen on major streaming services.
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