Closed Curtain

They are both on the run: the man with the dog he is not allowed to own because Islamic law deems it to be unclean, and the young woman who took part in an illicit party on the shores of the Caspian Sea. They barricade themselves in a secluded villa with curtained windows and eye each other suspiciously. Why has he shaved his head? How does she know he is being followed by the police? They are now prisoners in a house without a view in the midst of a hostile environment. The voices of police can be heard in the distance, but so too can the calming sound of the sea. One time they look at the night sky full of stars before again withdrawing behind their protective walls. Are we looking at outlaws, or are the man and the young woman merely phantoms, figments of the imagination of a filmmaker – Jafar Panahi – who is no longer allowed to work? Co-directed by Panahi and Kamboziya Partovi, the film won the Silver Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival.