FACETS CINÉMATHÈQUE

May 2007

The Facets Cinémathèque is located at 1517 W. Fullerton Ave. in Chicago. For more information on films playing in the Cinémathèque, please call 773-281-4114. To order advance tickets online, visit the TicketWeb website by clicking here.

Chicago Premiere

CAFÉ SETAREH

"The rare film equally influenced by Quentin Tarantino, Jean Renoir and William Saroyan, this time-winding triptych has a deep humanist sense and a feel for working-class folk whiling away the hours."
-Variety

"An elegant visual style and an astute grasp of soap-opera theatrics"
-LA Weekly

"Café Setareh is a classic women's picture but has a depth of perception not always associated with the genre."
-Los Angeles Times

"Moghadam's engrossing tale...has a spiciness, smoky visuals and a sense of sexuality and flawed morals that many contemporary Iranian films, as well as the classic Hollywood 'women's pictures,' largely avoid. This is a movie that convinces you of its links to real life, actual problems -- and paints a picture of Iran that's all the more troubling because of that reality."
-Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune

Recommended! "Poignant and structurally complex...Like some of Yasujiro Ozu's postwar films, this is characterized by its fatalism, deliberate pacing, evocative shots of empty interiors, and subtle gestures that illuminate traditional social mores and gender inequities."
-Chicago Reader

Café Setareh is about the challenges faced by three women in an old district of Tehran. Fariba supports herself and family by managing a small cafe in the district with no support from her jobless, debauched husband. Young and beautiful, Saloomeh dreams of marrying Ebi, a mechanic, who cannot even pay for a wedding or apartment, and she desparately wants a more comfortable life. Moluk, a middle-aged woman, has fallen for a younger man, but it is an unrequited love. He is attracted to her, but not as his wife, so she tries to remain young by dedicating some time to music and sport, which only makes her unhappiness more acute.As they navigate the private apartments of their tight-knit community in modern Tehran, we see how the deeply engrained codes of moral conduct, family obligation and gender roles affect the inner lives of these women and their families. This intriguing film speaks to the universal experiences of love, loss, honor and duty that demystifies the Iranian experience, illustrating how, no matter where we live or what we do, we all share the same fundamental desires to be happy, healthy and free.

Directed by Saman Moghadam, Iran, 2005, 35mm, 102 mins. In Farsi with English subtitles.

Variety Los Angeles Times

Showtimes:
Fri., May 4 at 7 & 9 pm
Sat.-Sun., May 5-6 at 3, 5, 7 & 9 pm
Mon.-Thurs., May 7-10 at 7 & 9 pm

Tickets:

$9 general admission
FREE for Facets Members!

For all Cinémathèque inquiries, contact Charles Coleman at 773.281.9075 or charles@facets.org

Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences