The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2024): review

Mohammad Rasoulof's The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2024) connects an intimate family drama with the political reality of Iran. Its power comes from the growing impossibility of keeping those two worlds separate.

Iman is an investigating judge at Tehran's Revolutionary Court. During the protests following Mahsa Amini's death in 2022, his suspicion and paranoia increasingly turn towards his own family.

Rasoulof combines the fictional story with real footage of the protests. The phone recordings bring the violence against demonstrators into the film with an immediacy that is difficult to escape. They prevent the family conflict from becoming an isolated dramatic device.

The performances are consistently impressive. Missagh Zareh makes Iman's internal conflict and growing distrust tangible. Soheila Golestani as his wife Najmeh, alongside Mahsa Rostami and Setareh Maleki as their daughters, conveys the tensions within the household and the different ways its members respond to events outside.

Rasoulof directs with precision and a willingness to confront political subjects directly. The film's clandestine production gives context to that courage, but the achievement is also dramatic: the family story has force in its own right.

Pooyan Aghababaei's cinematography contributes to the intensity. Intimate domestic scenes and disturbing protest footage create a sharp contrast, showing how the apparent separation between private life and public reality begins to collapse.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig is a brave and significant film. Its connection between personal drama and political circumstances is emotionally affecting and intellectually demanding. Strong direction, performances and imagery make it one of the most substantial films of 2024.