Circumstance (2011) on Netflix
Atafeh, teenage daughter of a wealthy Tehran family, and her orphaned friend Shireen slip away to illicit parties. Her brother Mehran, a recovering addict, turns religious and fixates on Shireen.
- Netflix3.1/5
- IMDb5.9/108,305 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes86%
Trailer
Plot summary
Shireen is an orphan, and Atafeh is the teenage daughter of a wealthy family in Tehran; the two are best friends. Together they move through a city where parties, drinking and drugs have to be kept out of sight, and they take part in all of it. Atafeh's parents, Firouz and Azar, look back on their own youth and on what is becoming of their children. Her brother Mehran, a recovering drug addict, grows increasingly religious and becomes obsessed with Shireen, and the strong bond he once had with his sister comes apart. The family struggles to contain Atafeh's rebellion and Mehran's newfound conservatism.
Cast
- Amir Barghashias Mohammed Mehdi
- Fariborz Daftarias Shireen's Uncle
- Amir Hossein Soleimanias Payam
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Circumstance (2011)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- While shooting Circumstance in Lebanon, the filmmakers feared Hezbollah's presence would expose them, so they hid the film's true nature. They gave Lebanese authorities a false script and said they were making director Maryam Keshavarz's thesis film, not a commercial feature.
- Director Maryam Keshavarz drew on summers spent in Shiraz, Iran for Circumstance's plot, including hearing about her cousin being whipped by the morality police.
- After Circumstance came out, Iranian authorities banned both the film and its director, Maryam Keshavarz, who was barred from returning to Iran.
- Sarah Kazemy, who lives in Paris, visited relatives in Tehran while researching her role, then said goodbye to them, knowing her part in Circumstance could keep her out of Iran for much of the foreseeable future.
- Beirut was picked as the filming location for Circumstance because, as actor Nikohl Boosheri put it, it had "the right Middle Eastern feeling," and Iran would not have given the filmmakers the same freedom.
- The main cast of Circumstance all spoke fluent Persian, but it was dated to before the 1979 Iranian revolution, so the filmmakers hired a dialect coach.
