Iranian director Mahnaz Mohammad has clashed repeatedly with local authorities over her documentary work—she's been arrested three times—and her debut fiction film, Son-Mother, carries the same defiant critique of Iranian hypocrisy and conservatism. The narrative unfolds first through a mother's eyes, then through her son's. She is a widow with a twelve-year-old boy and a younger daughter, barely surviving on factory wages and now facing dismissal. A bus driver has proposed marriage, which could solve her problems. But he has a daughter from a previous marriage, and he refuses to let the boy live with them—not until his own daughter marries—to avoid the gossip that would come from two unrelated adolescents under one roof. The mother initially resists sending her son away. But her unresolved tie to the driver becomes the subject of workplace rumors that threaten her job. In the film's second half, we watch the boy endure her choice. Using deception, she places him in a school for deaf children. The boy, naively believing she will retrieve him soon, pretends to be deaf and mute to avoid exposure. The scenes in the institution are acted by children who are actually deaf, and their presence gives the film a documentary weight that deepens the protagonist's tragedy. The school—where we see not only the life of its small residents but the dedication of teachers who care for them—is undeniably a refuge and a place of real education. Yet it can only partially soften the film's accusation against a society that values adult respectability more than children's welfare.
Original title: Son-Mother
Production country: Iran / Czech Republic
Year: 2019
Running time: 102'
Genre: Drama
Director: Mahnaz Mohammadi
Cast: Raha Khodayari, Mahan Nasiri, Reza Behboodi