Tabous - Zohre & Manouchehr (Zohre & manouchehr)

How can love and sexuality find a way through the myriad of prohibitions and interdicts in contemporary Iranian society? This question is at the heart of Mitra Farahani’s partly fictional, partly documentary film. In Mitra Farahani’s own words: “Today, if you ask an Iranian to define love, their response will inevitably be a poetical reference. Poetry is of fundamental importance in Iran. It is embedded in the culture of each and every individual. It is impossible to speak of love, and therefore of sexuality, without speaking in terms of poetry.” For her film, Farahani has chosen a poem by Iraj Mirza which is free of ambiguity; the love in question is passionate love, right down to its carnal dimension. Farahani: “I wanted to reveal via the fictional and documentary elements, the contradiction between a society once so well-versed in combining culture, Islam and the art of loving, and an environment today whereby a couple who embrace are forced to ask themselves if they are committing a grave sin.”