The Common Man Speaks

You are here: Home / International Cinema / The Salesman Review

The Salesman Review

March 26, 2017 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

It is believed that technical aspects like haunting and loud background score, editing effects and fast camerawork are a must for edge-of-the-seat thrillers. But Asghar Farhadi’s Oscar winning Iranian film, The Salesman manages to create an enormously thrilling effect just through the use of the script and presentation and leaves you super impressed.

The film tells the story of a married couple, Emad (Shahab Hosseini) and Rana (Taraneh Alidoosti), who are staying in Iran. They work together in a theatre group. Emad also teaches theatre and performing arts in a college. Suddenly, the building they are staying in starts collapsing. They manage to flee along with other residents.

Obviously, they are frantically searching for a new apartment to shift in. Babak (Babak Karimi), their theatre colleague, helps them find a new place, which was earlier occupied by a mysterious woman. One night, Rana goes to take a shower. When Emad returns home, he is shocked to find her badly wounded on her head. Was it an accident or assault?

The Salesman posterThe Salesman is an ideal example of getting your basics right. It proves that if you get your basic prerequisites bang on, you don’t need anything else to hook the audience. Not even a background score. In fact, not having any sound in the background is Farhadi’s trademark. Yet he manages to thrill through an ideal combination of an interesting story, watertight screenplay and brilliant execution.

The film doesn’t start off as a thriller by any means. It seems like a simple drama. But Farhadi has brought in the thriller effect slowly as the story progresses without you even noticing it. The effect keeps on increasing with the passing time. In other words, you don’t realize when you shift to the edge of the seat. Along with providing thrill, the climax also says a lot without saying anything.

Like the content and treatment, the characters too are simple, everyday people faced with extraordinary circumstances. The film shows that even the most ordinary and random person in a large crowd can be living a complicated tale.

The film does have few areas of concern though. The incident of building collapse doesn’t get with the rest of the film. Its magnanimity makes you think about it long after it has passed, which wasn’t needed. There is also one questionable moment in the last 20 minutes or so.

Hossein Jafarian’s camerawork gels with the nature of the film. It’s simple yet effective.

The performances match up to the numerous plus points. Shahab Hosseini beautifully succeeds in playing man possessed with a lot of questions. But he also manages to underplay himself, which was needed and would have been very difficult for most actors. Taraneh Alidoosti portrays various emotions with precision. She too wonderfully succeeds in speaking through expressions.

Farid Sajjadi Hosseini enters only in the last 30 minutes or so but leaves a terrific impact with his brilliance. Babak Karimi, Mina Sadati, as Sanam, Maral Bani Adam, as Kati, and the rest of the supporting actors leave no scope for complain.

Overall: The Salesman is an outstanding thrilling drama. The film is a must watch for anyone who wishes to enjoy something meaningful as well as riveting. Its appeal is universal. It’s releasing in India on 31 March 2017. The positive word-of-mouth might help the film earn decent collections at the box office.

Rating: 4/5

Review by: Keyur Seta

Director: Asghar Farhadi

Producers: Memento Films Production, Asghar Farhadi Produdction and Arte France Cinema

Cast: Shahab Hosseini, Taraneh Alidoosti, Farid Sajjadi Hosseini, Mina Sadati, Maral Bani Adam

Music: Sattar Oraki

Genre: Drama/ Thriller

Runtime: 125 minutes

India release: 31 March 2017

Share this:

  • Post

Like this:

Like Loading...

Filed Under: International Cinema Tagged With: Salesman movie review, The Salesman actors, The Salesman actress, The Salesman Asghar Farhadi, The Salesman cast, The Salesman Iranian film, The Salesman review, The Salesman story

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Like Us on Facebook

Pages

  • About Me

Categories

  • Bollywood
  • Cricket
  • Documentaries
  • Environment
  • Events
  • Food
  • Forgotten Moments
  • Gujarati Cinema
  • Health
  • Hollywood
  • Humour
  • International Cinema
  • Literature
  • Marathi movies
  • Miscellaneous
  • Mumbai
  • Music
  • National
  • Personal experience
  • Pictures
  • Plays
  • Poem/ Shayaris
  • Regional cinema
  • Rumour Alert
  • Short Films
  • Socio/Political
  • Spiritual
  • Travel
  • TV
  • Uncategorized
  • Web Series
  • Young Achievers

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 46 other subscribers

Archives

  • June 2025 (3)
  • May 2025 (4)
  • April 2025 (7)
  • March 2025 (5)
  • February 2025 (1)
  • January 2025 (4)
  • December 2024 (2)
  • November 2024 (3)
  • October 2024 (2)
  • September 2024 (4)
  • August 2024 (2)
  • July 2024 (3)
  • June 2024 (4)
  • May 2024 (1)
  • April 2024 (2)
  • March 2024 (2)
  • February 2024 (4)
  • January 2024 (4)
  • December 2023 (2)
  • November 2023 (3)
  • October 2023 (3)
  • September 2023 (4)
  • August 2023 (3)
  • July 2023 (2)
  • June 2023 (2)
  • May 2023 (4)
  • April 2023 (4)
  • March 2023 (2)
  • February 2023 (1)
  • January 2023 (3)
  • December 2022 (2)
  • November 2022 (6)
  • October 2022 (7)
  • September 2022 (2)
  • August 2022 (2)
  • July 2022 (2)
  • June 2022 (4)
  • May 2022 (4)
  • April 2022 (4)
  • March 2022 (4)
  • February 2022 (3)
  • January 2022 (3)
  • December 2021 (3)
  • November 2021 (2)
  • October 2021 (3)
  • September 2021 (4)
  • August 2021 (3)
  • July 2021 (5)
  • June 2021 (2)
  • May 2021 (5)
  • April 2021 (3)
  • March 2021 (4)
  • February 2021 (4)
  • January 2021 (4)
  • December 2020 (6)
  • November 2020 (4)
  • October 2020 (6)
  • September 2020 (4)
  • August 2020 (6)
  • July 2020 (3)
  • June 2020 (2)
  • May 2020 (3)
  • April 2020 (4)
  • March 2020 (3)
  • February 2020 (3)
  • January 2020 (2)
  • December 2019 (3)
  • November 2019 (4)
  • October 2019 (3)
  • September 2019 (2)
  • August 2019 (4)
  • July 2019 (6)
  • June 2019 (6)
  • May 2019 (4)
  • April 2019 (1)
  • March 2019 (2)
  • February 2019 (5)
  • January 2019 (5)
  • December 2018 (6)
  • November 2018 (4)
  • October 2018 (4)
  • September 2018 (3)
  • August 2018 (3)
  • July 2018 (2)
  • June 2018 (4)
  • May 2018 (2)
  • April 2018 (2)
  • March 2018 (2)
  • February 2018 (3)
  • January 2018 (3)
  • December 2017 (3)
  • November 2017 (3)
  • October 2017 (3)
  • September 2017 (3)
  • August 2017 (1)
  • July 2017 (4)
  • June 2017 (2)
  • May 2017 (3)
  • April 2017 (2)
  • March 2017 (3)
  • February 2017 (3)
  • January 2017 (4)
  • December 2016 (4)
  • November 2016 (3)
  • October 2016 (4)
  • September 2016 (2)
  • August 2016 (5)
  • July 2016 (4)
  • June 2016 (2)
  • May 2016 (4)
  • April 2016 (4)
  • March 2016 (4)
  • February 2016 (4)
  • January 2016 (5)
  • December 2015 (6)
  • November 2015 (4)
  • October 2015 (4)
  • September 2015 (8)
  • August 2015 (6)
  • July 2015 (5)
  • June 2015 (5)
  • May 2015 (10)
  • April 2015 (7)
  • March 2015 (4)
  • February 2015 (9)
  • January 2015 (11)
  • December 2014 (9)
  • November 2014 (10)
  • October 2014 (11)
  • September 2014 (9)
  • August 2014 (7)
  • July 2014 (7)
  • June 2014 (2)
  • May 2014 (4)
  • April 2014 (5)
  • March 2014 (1)
  • February 2014 (2)
  • January 2014 (4)
  • December 2013 (6)
  • November 2013 (8)
  • October 2013 (4)
  • September 2013 (2)
  • August 2013 (5)
  • July 2013 (2)
  • June 2013 (2)
  • May 2013 (7)
  • April 2013 (8)
  • March 2013 (11)
  • February 2013 (10)
  • January 2013 (14)
  • December 2012 (11)
  • November 2012 (6)
  • October 2012 (12)
  • September 2012 (15)
  • August 2012 (18)
  • July 2012 (14)
  • June 2012 (15)
  • May 2012 (7)
  • April 2012 (12)
  • March 2012 (15)
  • February 2012 (12)
  • January 2012 (17)
  • December 2011 (13)
  • November 2011 (12)
  • October 2011 (7)
  • September 2011 (4)
  • August 2011 (14)
  • July 2011 (6)
  • June 2011 (5)
  • May 2011 (5)
  • April 2011 (11)
  • March 2011 (4)
  • February 2011 (3)
  • January 2011 (6)
  • December 2010 (3)
  • November 2010 (2)
  • October 2010 (2)
  • September 2010 (1)
  • August 2010 (2)
  • July 2010 (3)
  • June 2010 (3)
  • May 2010 (1)
  • April 2010 (1)
  • March 2010 (3)
  • February 2010 (4)
  • January 2010 (3)
  • December 2009 (3)
  • November 2009 (4)
  • October 2009 (2)
  • September 2009 (2)
  • August 2009 (6)
  • July 2009 (3)

Copyright © 2025 · eleven40 Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

%d