Tehran: City Of Love

"Tehran: City Of Love" tells the stories of three middle-aged, depressed Iranians trying to cope with the reality that love has simply passed them by. In this bittersweet comedy from writer-director Ali Jaberansari, we see how these lonely individuals cope with the lack of a romantic relationship.

Overweight Mina (Forough Ghajabagli) is, ironically, the receptionist at a busy beauty clinic which helps people change their bodies. She uses her job to copy down any good-looking man's phone number and sets about catfishing them. She gets off on hiding in the cafe where she has arranged to meet her latest victim so she can see their annoyance at being stood up. Her other obsession is ice cream - by the bucket load.

Closeted champion bodybuilder Hessam Fazli (Amir Hessam Bakhtiari) is a trainer who has been reduced to working with elderly men until one of them suggests that his nephew Arshia (Amir Reza Alizadeh) is training to be a bodybuilder and needs help. Hessam is clearly smitten with the young man, but even when we believe him to be happy he still has a glum look on his face.

However, the gloomiest of the three protagonists is Vahid (Mehdi Saki), who works as a singer at religious funerals in a mosque. He's estranged from his fianc�e, which doesn't seem to upset him beyond having to break the news to his religious parents. His best friend decides the way out of his depression is to start singing happy songs and gets him booked as a wedding singer instead.

Without wishing to post any spoilers here, we can at least say that if you think this is one of those movies that ends with everybody happy, then you will be disappointed.

The script has more than its fair share of deadpan humor, which the three talented lead actors interpret very well. The film shows how a modern Tehran deals with the concept of finding one's own relationship, rather than waiting for one's parents to arrange things. However, if it is meant to be an argument for the new system, then it is not a convincing one.