The Circle

The Circle is a 2000 Iranian drama film produced and directed by Jafar Panahi that criticizes the treatment of women in Iran. The film has won several awards, including the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2000, but it is banned in Iran. Plot The film begins in a maternity ward of a hospital, where the mother of Solmaz Gholami is upset to learn that her daughter has just given birth to a girl, even though the ultrasound indicated that the baby would be a boy. Worrying that the parents of the child's father will force their son to divorce her daughter, she tells another daughter to call her uncles. At the phone booth, she passes by three young women, including Arezou and Nargess, who have just escaped prison. The three of them are trying to come up with money so that they can go to Nargess's home village. The third prisoner is immediately arrested, as she tries to pawn a gold chain, leaving just the two women. While waiting for Arezou in a market, Nargess spots a copy of A Wheatfield with Cypresses and mistakes it for a painting of her hometown. She shows it to Arezou, describing the paradise that awaits them at the end of their bus journey. Arezou acquires enough money from an acquaintance to get Nargess a bus ticket. Arezou decides not to go to Nargess' hometown, explaining that she would prefer to envision it as a paradise than to experience the real thing. The two of them separate. At the bus station, Nargess convinces the clerk to issue her a ticket, despite not having a male companion or a student card. After buying a present to bring home, Nargess returns to the bus only to find it is being searched by police. She retraces her steps in search of Arezou, but cannot find her. Instead she tries to find another prisoner, Pari, who also snuck out of the prison that day. Pari's father aggressively denies Nargess entry to the house and lies that his daughter is dead. Just as Nargess leaves defeated, Pari's two brothers arrive, and angrily force their way into the house, in order to "talk" to their sister. Pari manages to escape, and eventually makes her way to a hospital where she finds Elham, another former prisoner who has hidden her past and is now a nurse, married to a doctor.