The Salesman review: Gripping portrait of a marriage falling apart

The walls may be crumbling around them - husband Emad (Shahab Hosseini) and wife Rana (Taraneh Alidoosti) - but it isn't until they move into their new apartment that the cracks are visible, both inside and outside. The movie starts with the couple being forced into quickly finding a new place to live. This is a result of nearby construction, causing cracks in the foundation of their building.They find a new apartment where the previous tenant and her child left so quickly that their things are still strewn around one room of the apartment, including a bike near the entrance. In the first few minutes, Iranian writer-director Asghar Farhadi reveals a couple whose life is full of cracks, whether on stage, at home or with other people the couple interacts with.

They find a new apartment where the previous tenant and her child left so quickly that their things are still strewn around one room of the apartment, including a bike near the entrance. In the first few minutes, Iranian writer-director Asghar Farhadi reveals a couple whose life is full of cracks, whether on stage, at home or with other people the couple interacts with.

Rana and Emad are a mid-30s couple without a child. They are members of a theatre company that is engaged in the Tehran production Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman" - hence the title of the film. Onstage, the couple play Willy and Linda Lomans, both playing older, worn out characters.

In his Oscar-winning movie A Separation and in The Salesman, Farhadi uses the technique of not showing the viewer what exactly happens. In A Separation, there is a scene in which a woman falls down the stairs, something the viewer is not privy to and the viewer doesn't know why. It makes the viewer think about the whys, about the possible societal forces that ensure the invisibility of a woman in pain.

In The Salesman, Rana is washing up in the bathroom when she hears the buzzer. Upon thinking it is her husband, she unlocks the door and returns to the washroom. Then nothing. The viewer is then shown Emad's return home. He finds blood on the stairs and in the bathroom - and subsequently finds Rana in the hospital.

Rana is in shock and won't talk about the incident that led to her getting stitches. The viewer is left without sight, empty. The only clue for the viewer is a pickup truck left behind by the attacker.

Whilst Farhadi's movies are surrounded by urban environments, it's the contemporary takes on them that viewers of his films will be familiar with. In The Salesman, Farhadi manages to keep the pacing of the story crisp and speedy without the script seeming hurried.