SUBTRACTION

(director/writer: Mani Haghighi; screenwriter: Amir Reza Koohestani; cinematographer: Morteza Najafi; editor: Meysam Motalebi; music: Ramin Kousha; cast: Navid Mohammadzadeh (Jalal/Mohsen), Taraneh Alidoosti (Farzanan/Bita); Runtime: 107; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Majid Motalebi; Iranian Independents; 2022-Iran/France-in Persian with English subtitles)

“An intelligent exercise in fantasy filmmaking.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

A thought-provoking, slow burn and taut psychological thriller by the Canadian-educated Iranian filmmaker Mani Haghighi (“Pig”/”Modest Reception”), one of Iran’s best directors. He co-writes with Amir Reza Koohestani. The odd film leaves viewers grappling with questions over identity, gender, and class inequality.


Farzanan (Taraneh Alidoost) and Jalal (Navid Mohammadzadeh) are an ordinary married couple in Tehran. She’s a pregnant driving instructor and he’s a doting husband.

One day while stuck in traffic, she observes Jalal on a bus. She follows the bus and he gets off in a wealthy neighborhood meeting a woman there. But later at home with her husband, discovers it was a double of her husband. The man she followed is named Mohsen (Mohammadzadeh), and the woman he visits is Farzaneh’s own doppelganger–his wife Bita (Alidoost).

The doppelganger premise allows Haghighi to explore in depth how daily life functions in contemporary Iran’s bustling urban setting of Tehran. It’s an intelligent exercise in fantasy filmmaking.

It played at the Toronto International Film Festival.

REVIEWED ON 7/11/2024  GRADE: B
dennisschwartzreviews.com