“Massoud Bakhshi's striking feature debut A Respectable Family … deftly blends suspense and social commentary to deliver an acerbic commentary on today's Tehran.” - Screen Daily

College professor Arash returns to Iran after 22 years in the West, to teach at a university. When his semester of teaching comes to an end, and with it the unpleasant experience of the authorities interfering with his syllabus, Arash finds himself unable to leave Iran, drawn instead into a series of domestic and financial dramas as he discovers a family and country he no longer recognises.

Massoud Bakhshi's daringly caustic drama is a semi-autobiographical tale that places present-day Iran within a broader historical context. Bakhshi draws on his own haunting memories of the bloody Iran-Iraq war to create a tense tale of a country mired in an existential crisis.

D/S Massoud Bakhshi P Jacques Bidou, Marianne Dumoulin WS Pyramide International L Farsi w/English subtitles TD DCP/2012

Read an extended in-depth article on MIFF's Iranian films at Senses of Cinema.