Plot

Fereshteh's father has gone bankrupt due to the troubled economy during Iran's nuclear sanctions years. The family has sold their house to free the father and they are now living in a small, dilapidated house. The creditors pressure Fereshteh for their money and hurt her feminine family. Farzaneh, Fereshteh's sister, was going to marry but her wedding was cancel because of their situation. Fereshteh's mother sells all home appliances and now there is only one creditor left who wants Fereshteh instead of his money. Fereshteh is in a dilemma of giving in to a married man, which will lead to her father's release, or fighting the problems of lacking money and lacking her father.

Director's note: The film depicts how the Iranian families were in crisis because of the economic problems and the lack of money during the presidency of Dr Ahmadinejad and Iran's economic sanctions, while some opportunists and profiteers made big embezzlement's by taking advantage of the economic conditions of the market. During the years 2012 and 2013, all Iranian people were after a big change in the political and economic ties between their country and the world and the election of President Dr Rouhani and his positive promises made the people more hopeful. Unfortunately, however, the families have received drastic blows and the Iranian family has sustained a big would whose healing will take many years. Fereshteh has all of her father's (Ahmad) debt weighing her down. He's in prison for-what I think is, it's never made explicitly clear-supposed less-than-savory business practices that resulted in all that debt. His family maintains throughout the movie that he hasn't done anything wrong; it was his business partner who was shady and threw Ahmad under the bus for everything that went wrong with their company and the Iranian economy. Throughout the entirety of the film, Fereshteh and her mother are constantly scraping money together to pay off the next creditor and to buy food. The family was forced to move from a life of grandeur to one of abject poverty; they can't even afford to send the youngest to school, and Fereshteh's mother sells off appliances for cash.

This is an Iranian film, set in Tehran, with beautiful images of the main thoroughfare at night. As someone of Iranian descent who has visited Iran, it made me smile to see something that reminds me of time spent with my mother's family. It also made me sad to think that my family is struggling to understand how to deal with President Donald Trump's latest travel ban against Iran. The director of this film, Hassan Ahkondpour, was affected by Trump's initial travel ban against citizens from seven countries, including Iran. He couldn't attend the SLO Film Fest, which he was planning to do.