Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema
Film Review: Maria (2023) by Mahdi Asghari Azghadi

By Panos Kotzathanasis
Asian Movie Pulse

“Maria” is a captivating thriller noir that remains interesting from beginning to end, while making a very intriguing comment about the impact of cinema.

Based on a true story, “Maria” is an Iranian noir thriller that will remind many of Gaspar Noe’s films, despite the fact that in the end, it is a rather different animal. The movie premiered in Tokyo where it won the Asian Future Best Film Award.

A young woman falls from a footbridge onto the car of Farhad, a young film director, on his wedding day. As his mother, Zohreh, pressures him to ask the family of the girl for some compensation, he gets to know the background of the girl a bit more, while it is soon revealed that she was supposed to play the role his wife-to-be, Parisa, eventually had in an upcoming movie. Soon, Farhad becomes obsessed with finding out why the girl committed suicide, and eventually everyone around him are sucked into his research.



Through a narrative filled with tension, Mahdi Asghari Azghadi creates a rather appealing narrative, where each revelation seems to raise even more questions. At the same time, though, the whydunit is not the only central aspect here, since Farhad’s downward spiral, and his inability to let go, brings him into rather dark paths, in the element that most reminds of Gaspar Noe’s “Irreversible” here.

It is also quite interesting to mention how strong the women in the film appear, particularly Zohre and Parisa, all of which seem to be in total control of their lives and the people around them. In comparison, the men and particularly Farhad, seem weak and unable to control themselves, or in the case of the girl’s father, unable to handle what goes beyond the rules of their religion.

Also of note, and in another trait of the direction, is how the real events of what happened both in the far and the close past unfold, with Azghadi unweaving the thread of the story in a way that retains interest from beginning to the end of the 97 minutes of the movie. Cementing this prowess is definitely the tragic irony about the perception of the family of the deceased regarding what happened, in an element that, quite uniquely, shows that cinema can also have a negative impact.



All the aforementioned, along with the tension, owe much to Elnaz Ebadolahi’s editing, with her cuts being the main medium of the occasionally quite fast pace, which suits the general aesthetics of the movie to perfection. DP Davood Malekhosseini captures both the agony and the obsession that take over the protagonist nicely, with his approach also being the main medium of the noir element in the movie.

Kamyab Geranmayeh as Farhad gives an excellent performance, highlighting his deconstruction in the best fashion. Hossein Mahjoob in the role of the father of the deceased is also impressive on occasion, while Mahshid Khodadadi as Parisa showcases her continuous disappointment in her husband-to-be in the best way.

“Maria” is a captivating thriller noir that remains interesting from beginning to end, while making a very intriguing comment about the impact of cinema.