Iranian director Asghar Farhadi (A Separation) also co-writes this story of premarital disillusionment. Any time you get to see a radiant bride-to-be (Taraneh Alidoosti) try on her dress and admire her reflection at the outset, you know that bliss is in the crosshairs. (It’s an even bigger tip-off than the constant, unsettling pop-pop of holiday firecrackers in the streets.) Our heroine is Roohi, happy in love and headed to work — a one-day gig helping to reassemble a freshly painted apartment. But life in the complex is complicated, thanks to a jealous wife, a harried husband, and a single woman down the hall. What follows is Roohi’s gradual and mostly innocent immersion in the semi-private world of a marriage in trouble. Of course, we are taken along for the dive, and asked to sympathize with everyone along the way. To help us along, Farhadi keeps a safe middle distance throughout, and pulls back behind a glass wall for the worst of things. In Persian with English subtitles. (2006) — Matthew Lickona
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