100
Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt
Suspenseful and ingeniously directed.
The Circle (دایره)
Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
- Iran,
- Italy,
- Switzerland
- 2000
- · 90m
Director
Jafar Panahi
Cast
Nargess Mamizadeh,
Maryiam Palvin Almani,
Mojgan Faramarzi,
Elham Saboktakin,
Monir Arab,
Maede Tahmasbi
Genre
Drama
Various women, whose lives intertwine, struggle to function in the oppressively sexist society of contemporary Iran. Their crimes are vague, their guilt or innocence unimportant. Their world is one of constant surveillance and inequalities, but it cannot extinguish the spirit, strength, and courage of the circle of women.
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What are critics saying?
100
Philadelphia Inquirer by Steven Rea
Quiet, rageful indictment of a two-tiered Islamic society.
100
Mr. Showbiz by Michael Atkinson
Naturalistic, gritty, and unrelenting.
100
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
Circles the heart of noisy, modern Tehran with an informal, documentary-like freedom that is thrilling in its naturalism.
90
L.A. Weekly
A triumph of invisible craftsmanship that embraces so much specific detail that none of the women ever comes across as an emblem or an abstraction.
90
Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan
Restrained yet powerful, devastating in its emotional effects.
90
The New York Times by Dana Stevens
The political implications of the film are manifest, as is the quiet courage of making it.
90
Wall Street Journal by Joe Morgenstern
A stunning drama about the desperate state of women in Iran.
90
L.A. Weekly by David Chute
A triumph of invisible craftsmanship that embraces so much specific detail that none of the women ever comes across as an emblem or an abstraction.
90
Washington Post by Desson Thomson
A memorable and devastating indictment of the oppression facing many women in Iran.
90
Variety by Deborah Young
Both fascinates and horrifies with its bold assertions about what it means to be a woman under a cruel, institutionalized patriarchy.
83
Seattle Post-Intelligencer by Sean Axmaker
A mix of the poetic and the polemic, the film is oddly abstract and untethered.
80
TV Guide Magazine by Ken Fox
This tightly structured, often exciting film is among the boldest in a series of increasingly explicit movies.
80
New Times (L.A.) by Jean Oppenheimer
An extraordinary film from a born filmmaker.
75
Baltimore Sun by Michael Sragow
A terrific social drama, the work of an artist, not a pleader.
75
New York Daily News by Jami Bernard
How dangerous it is to be a woman in Iran, especially one going against the wishes of her menfolk, is brought home time after time in these related vignettes.
63
New York Post by Jonathan Foreman
This film is fighting the good fight, albeit in a rather heavy-handed way.
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