I'm going to go out on a limb here and venture a guess that Reading Lolita in Tehran, based upon the memoir by Iranian author/academic Azar Nafisi would have been a better film, and it's still a good one, if the decision had been made for a female director to helm the project. This is not to diss Eran Riklis, who directs quite ably here, but instead to surmise that a female director would have, at least hopefully, tapped a little more effectively into Nafisi's urgent storytelling and sense of heightened emotions. 

The story centers around Nafisi's return to Iran after studying classic literature in the United States. She returns home alongside her husband hoping for a resurgence of intellectualism. It's a hope that is quickly squelched as Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamic regime takes hold and the result is anything but intellectualism. 

Exiled Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani manages to mesmerize here, selling Nafisi's quiet literary revolutio of sorts as she leaves the university setting only to gather small groups of women for prvate readings of banned books including, of course, Nabokov's Lolita. 

Farahani is always a captivating actress, though I found her even more captivating here. 

There's no question I was hoping for a bit more from Reading Lolita in Tehran, however, I would watch the film again and again simply to watch Farahani come to life as Nafisi. We know early on that Nafisi's destiny as a professor isn't a promising one. The film opens with F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, a novel seemingly tailor-made for casting dispersions upon America, however, it's clear that even token opposition is enough to shut down anything resembling academic freedom. 

Reading Lolita in Tehran doesn't shy away from the extremes to which we all know the regime has gone to squelch opposition. Nafisi's groups will face their share of opposition, while the women who dare participate will face a variety of consequences from arrest to execution for their views and rebellion. For rather obvious reasons, the film wasn't shot in Tehran but instead Rome. It's a choice that works for the film. 

Reading Lolita in Tehran carries with it a quiet optimistic spirit, neither blind to reality nor willing to be smothered by reality. Farahani's intuitive performance, unquestionably inspired by both lived and learned experiences, is the rock that truly makes this a film to watch. 

We've seen films about the power of art and literature before. While Reading Lolita in Tehran centers around oppression, it's as much about the humans who manage to find hope amidst that oppression. I'm convinced there's a better film to be created from Reading Lolita in Tehran, however, the film that is right here right now is still worthy of our attention and reflections. 

Picked up by Greenwich Entertainment after a successful festival run, Reading Lolita in Tehran is currently in limited theatrical release. 

Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic