Iranian filmmaker Saeed Roustaee (also spelled Saeed Roustayi – I know its annoying) became part of the Cannes family when he gave us the competition title Leila’s Brothers back in 2022 (read ★★ review). For his fourth feature film, we find him re-teaming with Payman Maadi and Parinaz Izadyar toplines as a mother in distress and with a bit of fight in her step. This follows a 45-year-old widowed nurse named Mahnaz who is raising her children alone and struggling with her rebellious son. As she prepares to marry her fiancé, Hamid, her son Aliyar is expelled from school. When a tragic accident turns everything upside down, Mahnaz sets out to seek justice and reparation. Filming on Woman And Child began back in December of last year – so this was a surprise inclusion and was the 19th film of the 22 featured in comp.
In 2022, Leila’s Brothers landed an average score of 2.9. Yesterday, with a dozen of our critics having watched the second Iranian film offering we have a combined total of 2.8.
Click on the grid below for a larger version and latest updates!
