User Reviews

Another gem of a portrayal of Iran's urban middle & lower classes from the master filmmaker behind cinematic jewels like A Separation & About Elly, Fireworks Wednesday is as effective & impressive a domestic drama as Asghar Farhadi's later features and, in my opinion, remains his underrated masterpiece that can really use a broader audience.

Featuring a gripping plot that gets better as the story progresses, tightly structured screenplay, captivating performances from its cast & tight editing, the best thing about Fireworks Wednesday is the manner in which Farhadi has interwoven the whole film in layers which keeps challenging ours as well as its characters' assumptions throughout its runtime & eventually results in an emotionally draining experience.

Covering themes of lies, deception, marriage & infidelity from the eyes of an engaged young woman who's about to step into matrimony, while also keeping its narration perfectly stable by finding a fine balance between its suspense, mystery & drama, Fireworks Wednesday is a faith- shattering cinema that's powerful enough to rank amongst world cinema's finest films and is thoroughly recommended to all film lovers.

Fireworks Wednesday is celebrated Iranian director Asghar Farhadi's 2006 film that finally saw the light of day here in the US ten years later following a DVD release. Here Farhadi is both director and co-screenwriter, exploring marital discord between a middle-class couple on a Wednesday eve right before the Iranian New Year (outside a plethora of fireworks are exploding all over the city).

The warring couple is wife Mozhdeh and husband Morteza Samiei; they have a young son, Amir-Ali who can't help be affected by the terrible tension between his parents. Morteza wants the apartment cleaned as the family was initially planning to take a trip to Dubai the next day (which never comes to fruition). He hires a maid, Rouhi, to clean the apartment, against Mozhdeh's wishes.

Rouhi, is a virtual innocent compared to the Samieis, as she is soon to be married and has a cheerful disposition. Her working-class origins are succinctly contrasted with those of the middle-class Samieis (perhaps Farhadi is emulating Bergman's Persona, the 1966 face-off between a mentally ill actress and her more well-adjusted nurse, charged with taking care of her).

Fireworks Wednesday has a rather slow-moving plot but the central question keeps us interested: is Morteza cheating on Mozhdeh with their divorced neighbor, Simin, who runs an illegal beauty salon in their apartment building?

Mozhdeh conscripts Rouhi to spy on Simin and learns from her that both her husband and the neighbor won't be home until 5PM. Her suspicions about the affair virtually confirmed, Mozhdeh then has Rouhi pick up Amir-Ali at school and goes off to spy on her husband; after he finds out, he publicly beats her and she's ready to take her son and move in with her sister and brother-in-law.

All hell breaks out in the apartment with Mozhdeh accusing her husband of the affair. It's the level-headed Rouhi who lied about how Simin knew of the Samieis' departure time to Dubai (she presents an alternative explanation), calming Mozhdeh and preventing her from leaving.

There are more surprises here but keep in mind, as previously mentioned, it takes quite a bit of time to get to the big payoff. SUPER SPOILERS AHEAD. Yes it's Farhadi who teases us into believing that the wife is unstable and paranoid. But ultimately he reveals to the audience that indeed Morteza has been having an affair with Simin. The next twist is Simin wants out of the affair. And finally Rouhi figures out that Morteza is guilty as sin (she can smell his perfume-the same given to her by Simin during her beauty salon session there earlier). Again, it's the level-headed Rouhi who prevents further heartache by not confirming Mozhdeh's deeply held belief about her husband (which now happens to be true).

Farhadi follows in the path of the earlier master Bergman, suggesting that the unhappy couple will continue to soldier on, despite the husband's infidelity. The performances here by stars Hedyeh Tehrani (Mozhdeh), Taraneh Alidousti (Rouhi), and Hamid Farokhnezhad (Morteza), are impeccable. While the dissection of marital infidelity is not the most original idea for a film, it's presented with great verisimilitude with enough surprises to keep our interest.

Much like Farhadi's other films, 'Fireworks Wednesday' also depends highly on character revelations, the powerful dialogues and sensationally grounded performances the director is able to extract from his ensemble.

The movie sheds light on certain events that take place in the life of a married couple (Mozhdeh & Morteza) on the eve of the Persian New Year. The wife suspects the husband of cheating with the neighbor but as yet, she does not have substantial evidence to prove the same. How the movie juggles between the perspectives of the lead protagonists is indeed effectively done. A domestic help (Rouhi) who is about to get married enters their day and things start to go topsy-turvy all of a sudden (for reasons you might not expect!).

It is pretty clear how Farhadi is a master at story-telling from a minimalist angle. His films more or less rely on how well the characters react/emote and how one event is the result of the other. Taraneh Alidoosti who plays the role of the domestic help, conveys the right set of expressions (cute and mushy when talks of her marriage pop up, but solemn when things around her start spiraling out of control!). Hediyeh Tehrani as the grieving wife acts out her role like she's literally living it. Hamid Farokhnezad who plays the husband also does a deft job (it's exciting to see how he hams it up when he's losing (rather, pretending to lose) it. Pantea Bahram as the neighbor Simin delivers a glowy performance.

Farhadi is certainly a director of nerve. The fireworks (explosive outbursts) are taking place both inside the house and outside. The inside version is a startling mesh of anger, suspicion and grief, while the outdoor one is an expression of joy and celebration. How contradicting can they get! Farhadi bases almost the entire run-time of the film around (max.) two or three characters but the narrative unraveling is executed almost flawlessly that the viewer never loses track of what's going on. The dialogues are so intrinsically striking that at one point, I felt like wanting to learn Persian. Human beings are not projected as cardboard cut-outs; each one's got themselves a purpose, painted in shades of grey.

Next on my Asghar Farhadi binge-list is 'About Elly'.

I watched this film with a mixed group of people, some Iranians, some non-Iranians who had seen many Iranian films and some who had never seen an Iranian film before.

The ones who had never seen an Iranian film were amazed, thinking this is the greatest thing sine sliced bread. The rest merely liked the film. The first group was shocked by how good this thing is, probably unaware that Iran makes actual films (maybe thinking Iran just makes anti-US films?), but what amazed them is how real the story felt like and how different it is from anything they had seen before.

Yes, Iranian films are very realistic because they chose subjects that are not implausible to begin with. It's not difficult for Iranians to act roles of husband, wife, child, father, son, roles they actually play in real life. What's more difficult is to act roles they don't play in real life - Sassanian knight, medieval poet, secret agent, drug dealer, prisoner, etc.

This film's originality is because there are few Hollywood films (or even world films) like it. In that sense it is quite original. In another sense, it is very Iranian and there are quite a few Iranian films like it.

This movie is a slice of life into the lives of a married couple through the eyes of a cleaning lady who they also use for errands, as a babysitter, as a spy and as an alibi. She is a poor, simple and rural girl, and thorough her innocent eyes we see the lives of the upper middle class, how their financial security does not save them from living in a personal hell. It is a slice-of-life film taking place in a 16 hour period, a story that drops you gob smack in the middle of the story and leaves you without an ending.

That is my biggest problem with the film. I have no problem with a slice-of-life stories. I really love them. I have no particular problem with stories that don't have proper beginnings, that just start in the middle letting your brain connect the threads together, arranging the pieces of the puzzle as you get new bits of information. I actually think that this may be a better approach than an exposition at the start of the film - such as an introductory text, or overhearing a conversation that sets up the story in its entirety, i.e. something like "I think my husband is having an affair. I think it's the neighbor. I saw her number on our caller ID. Someone heard his voice on her answering machine. He also smells like a woman's perfume. Could you please spy on her for me?" That's a terrible way to start a film.

I'm also neutral on stories without a clear-cut ending. Or a story without a central character. But films like this are unsatisfying.

No beginning and no ending is a bit too much for me. It's as if you went to your friends house, a married couple, watched them fight for a few hours, get dragged into it, provide an alibi, and then leave. That's the movie.

Of course, there's more to it than that. This movie is a window into Iran, into the Iranian middle- class, into married life in general, into Tehran and into Newrouz. In 100 minutes, we get to see through this window into a country, a social class, a building, a nuclear family, a city and a festival. But we don't get to see a story. We overhear a story, we catch a glimpse of it, like seeing a couple fight in a restaurant. If you're there long enough, you'll hear the entire history of the couple, along with the lists of mistakes each of them has done, but you won't hear a conclusion. Contrast this with About Elly, which is also a slice-of-life film, but has a clear beginning and end.

The lack of conclusion is not the only flaw with this film. It's that this kind of film is not really original for Iran. Someone listening to a jazz song for the first time might think it's completely new, but when you hear more and more you realize that that piece may not have been all that original after all.

I want to see Iranian filmmakers challenge themselves, try to do something that is not just uncommon for world cinema, but uncommon even for Iranian cinema.

There are other weaknesses in this film - the music - the traditional music during the day festivities was good, the bandari songs played during the night festivities were good too, but the soundtrack (played during dramatic scenes) was not good. It was too loud and just not one of the better things from Iranian music. Iran has a rich history of music but there's a big disconnect between Iranian musicians and filmmakers. The only films that have great music are ones about musicians it seems.

Other than that, everything was excellent. Cinematography is brilliant. There are two scenes that stand out, Simin walking on the street and the car ride during Newrouz. A must watch for cinematography fans and film students.

Everything felt realistic. You never feel like anyone is acting. It feels more like a documentary than a stage play, which is a good thing.

It is a good film, but not really a must-watch.

If we have two or three of such movies per year, that will be more than enough for our society to break down. One of the best Iranian traditions, Chaharshanbe-soori, has been shown like a dangerous street riot throughout the film and the sound of explosions is heard in all scenes. Is this really all we have in "Chaharshanbe-soori"? The house cleaner "Roohi" does nothing but eavesdropping, lying and interfering in Mojde's private life and goes happy with her fiancé at the end with no punishment for her behavior. The worst part is that the hairdresser "Simin" who is the cause of this entire scenario (beside Morteza of course) appears as an angle requesting an end to her affair with Morteza because Mojde is under intense pressure due to their relationship (as she says)!!!! So real!!! If this angel really has a heart like this why has she started this affair not thinking about Mojde but her little son who may lose either his father or mother as a result of her joy (mentioning that Simin herself has a son who is experiencing a different life because of separation of his parents). While the only positive point of the movie is that apology that Morteza gives to her wife because of his behavior in the street, Morteza believes that he has the right to cheat on his wife because she is a terrible housewife (Morteza: go and ask neighbors to see when has been the last time that they have smelled food from our home?); as no where in the movie this idea is denied, it seems to be the final belief delivered to the viewer, but is this really the solution???...

An interesting story of a collapsing family, and the worker who comes to their house. The film shows a family in which a woman suspects her husband, and these make up stories. It wasn't a great movie, but it wasn't bad either. The actors also acted well.