The Day I Became a Woman
Encyclopedia
The Day I Became a Woman is a 2000
award-winning Iran
ian drama film
directed by Marzieh Meshkini
. It tells three stories, each depicting a different stage in the lives of Iranian women. It première
d at the 2000 Venice Film Festival
and won several festival awards during 2000. Critical response was positive with some calling it "Felliniesque
".
Hava is a young girl who, on her ninth birthday, is told by her mother and grandmother that she has become a woman. She may no longer play with her best friend, a boy, and must wear a chador
when outside the home. Deciding that Hava was born in the middle of the day, her mother decides to let her postpone her fate until noon
. Hava plays with her friend, waiting for the shadow to disappear from a stick pushed upright into the ground.
Ahoo is a married woman who is taking part in a cycling
race. Ahead of the rest, Ahoo is pursued by her husband on horseback. He tries to persuade her to stop cycling and come home, and then threatens her with divorce
. When Ahoo defiantly continues cycling, her husband brings a mullah
who divorces them. Later, tribal superiors and male family members come to stop Ahoo as she tries to escape the social constraints of being a woman.
Hoora is an elderly widow who has recently inherited a great deal of money. She decides to buy all of the material possessions she has ever wanted, but could not have while she was married. She ties strings to her fingers to remind her what to buy, and hires several young boys to help her. They take her and her new belongings to the beach. As she floats out to a waiting ship, seemingly free from the bonds of womanhood, she is watched by two of the young women from the bicycle race, and Hava, now wearing her chador.
. It was shot on Kish Island in the Hormozgān Province
in southern Iran. Makhmalbaf was on the island at the same time, shooting Testing Democracy. Some commentators have suggested that Makhmalbaf was the real director of The Day I Became a Woman (as well as the films of his daughters). Critic Jonathan Rosenbaum
has argued against these claims. Meshkini has said that as a female filmmaker, she found making a film in Iran particularly difficult, having to prove her abilities to the cast and crew before being accepted by them.
d at the 2000 Venice Film Festival
. It went on to play at several festivals including the Toronto Film Festival, the London Film Festival
and the New York New Directors and New Films Festival. It was given a limited release in American theatres on April 6, 2001. On its release in Iran, it was temporarily banned.
The film won awards at the Venice Film Festival, the Toronto Film Festival, the Thessaloniki Film Festival, the Pusan International Film Festival
, the Oslo Films from the South Festival and the Chicago International Film Festival
.
Critical response to the film was generally positive. Film review site Rotten Tomatoes
gave it a score of 87% based on 55 reviews. Metacritic
gave it a score of 84% based on 24 reviews. Writing for the New York Times, Stephen Holden
called it a "stunner of a film" and "an astonishing directorial debut". He said that leaving characters' backgrounds and motives unexplored makes the film enigmatic. Roger Ebert
said that the three stories lack "the psychological clutter of Western movies", describing this fact as a strength. In the Boston Phoenix, Chris Fujiwara said that the film was "largely successful, describing the second segment as the highlight, and calling the final story disappointing. In The New Yorker
, Michael Sragow
called the film "fierce, inspired filmmaking". Several critics described it as "Felliniesque
".
2000 in film
The year 2000 in film involved some significant events.The top grosser worldwide was Mission: Impossible II. Domestically in North America, Gladiator won the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actor ....
award-winning Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Marzieh Meshkini
Marzieh Meshkini
Marzieh Meshkini is an Iranian cinematographer, film director and writer. She is married to film director Mohsen Makhmalbaf who wrote the script for her début film The Day I Became a Woman.-Honors and awards:...
. It tells three stories, each depicting a different stage in the lives of Iranian women. It première
Premiere
A premiere is generally "a first performance". This can refer to plays, films, television programs, operas, symphonies, ballets and so on. Premieres for theatrical, musical and other cultural presentations can become extravagant affairs, attracting large numbers of socialites and much media...
d at the 2000 Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
and won several festival awards during 2000. Critical response was positive with some calling it "Felliniesque
Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , was an Italian film director and scriptwriter. Known for a distinct style that blends fantasy and baroque images, he is considered one of the most influential and widely revered filmmakers of the 20th century...
".
Plot
The film tells three different stories about women struggling for identity in Iran.Hava is a young girl who, on her ninth birthday, is told by her mother and grandmother that she has become a woman. She may no longer play with her best friend, a boy, and must wear a chador
Chador
A chādor or chādar is an outer garment or open cloak worn by many Iranian women and female teenagers in public spaces. Wearing this garment is one possible way in which a Muslim woman can follow the Islamic dress code known as ḥijāb. A chador is a full-body-length semicircle of fabric that is...
when outside the home. Deciding that Hava was born in the middle of the day, her mother decides to let her postpone her fate until noon
Noon
Noon is usually defined as 12 o'clock in the daytime. The word noon is also used informally to mean midday regarding the location of the sun not the middle of a persons day. Although this is a time around the middle of the day when people in many countries take a lunch break...
. Hava plays with her friend, waiting for the shadow to disappear from a stick pushed upright into the ground.
Ahoo is a married woman who is taking part in a cycling
Cycling
Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
race. Ahead of the rest, Ahoo is pursued by her husband on horseback. He tries to persuade her to stop cycling and come home, and then threatens her with divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
. When Ahoo defiantly continues cycling, her husband brings a mullah
Mullah
Mullah is generally used to refer to a Muslim man, educated in Islamic theology and sacred law. The title, given to some Islamic clergy, is derived from the Arabic word مَوْلَى mawlā , meaning "vicar", "master" and "guardian"...
who divorces them. Later, tribal superiors and male family members come to stop Ahoo as she tries to escape the social constraints of being a woman.
Hoora is an elderly widow who has recently inherited a great deal of money. She decides to buy all of the material possessions she has ever wanted, but could not have while she was married. She ties strings to her fingers to remind her what to buy, and hires several young boys to help her. They take her and her new belongings to the beach. As she floats out to a waiting ship, seemingly free from the bonds of womanhood, she is watched by two of the young women from the bicycle race, and Hava, now wearing her chador.
Cast
- Fatemeh Cherag Akhar as Hava
- Hassan Nebhan as Hassan
- Shahr Banou Sisizadeh as Mother
- Ameneh Passand as Grandmother
- Shabnam Toloui as Ahoo
- Sirous Kahvarinegad as Husband
- Mahram Zeinal Zadeh as Osmann
- Norieh Mahigiran as Rival Cyclist
- Azizeh Sedighi as Hoora
- Badr Iravani as Young Boy
Production
The film was co-written by director Marzieh Meshkini, from a script by her husband Mohsen MakhmalbafMohsen Makhmalbaf
Mohsen Makhmalbaf is an Iranian film director, writer, editor, and producer. During 2007 he was the president of Asian Film Academy.Makhmalbaf's films have been widely presented in international film festivals in the past ten years. The multi-award-winning director, belongs to the new wave...
. It was shot on Kish Island in the Hormozgān Province
Hormozgan Province
Hormozgan Province is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. It is in the south of the country, facing Oman. Its area is , and its provincial capital is Bandar Abbas...
in southern Iran. Makhmalbaf was on the island at the same time, shooting Testing Democracy. Some commentators have suggested that Makhmalbaf was the real director of The Day I Became a Woman (as well as the films of his daughters). Critic Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum is an American film critic. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for the Chicago Reader from 1987 until 2008, when he retired at the age of 65...
has argued against these claims. Meshkini has said that as a female filmmaker, she found making a film in Iran particularly difficult, having to prove her abilities to the cast and crew before being accepted by them.
Distribution and reception
The Day I Became a Woman premièrePremiere
A premiere is generally "a first performance". This can refer to plays, films, television programs, operas, symphonies, ballets and so on. Premieres for theatrical, musical and other cultural presentations can become extravagant affairs, attracting large numbers of socialites and much media...
d at the 2000 Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
. It went on to play at several festivals including the Toronto Film Festival, the London Film Festival
London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is the UK's largest public film event, screening more than 300 features, documentaries and shorts from almost 50 countries. The festival, , currently in its 54th year, is run every year in the second half of October under the umbrella of the British Film Institute...
and the New York New Directors and New Films Festival. It was given a limited release in American theatres on April 6, 2001. On its release in Iran, it was temporarily banned.
The film won awards at the Venice Film Festival, the Toronto Film Festival, the Thessaloniki Film Festival, the Pusan International Film Festival
Pusan International Film Festival
Busan International Film Festival , held annually in Haeundae-gu, Busan , South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia...
, the Oslo Films from the South Festival and the Chicago International Film Festival
Chicago International Film Festival
The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America....
.
Critical response to the film was generally positive. Film review site Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
gave it a score of 87% based on 55 reviews. Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
gave it a score of 84% based on 24 reviews. Writing for the New York Times, Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden is an American writer, music critic, film critic, and poet.Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963...
called it a "stunner of a film" and "an astonishing directorial debut". He said that leaving characters' backgrounds and motives unexplored makes the film enigmatic. Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
said that the three stories lack "the psychological clutter of Western movies", describing this fact as a strength. In the Boston Phoenix, Chris Fujiwara said that the film was "largely successful, describing the second segment as the highlight, and calling the final story disappointing. In The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, Michael Sragow
Michael Sragow
Michael Sragow is a film critic and columnist who has written for The Baltimore Sun, The New Times, The New Yorker , The Atlantic and salon.com...
called the film "fierce, inspired filmmaking". Several critics described it as "Felliniesque
Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , was an Italian film director and scriptwriter. Known for a distinct style that blends fantasy and baroque images, he is considered one of the most influential and widely revered filmmakers of the 20th century...
".