Allegory in Iranian Cinema: The Aesthetics of Poetry and Resistance

(Paperback)

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Iranian filmmakers have long been recognised for creating a vibrant, aesthetically rich cinema whilst working under strict state censorship regulations. As Michelle Langford reveals, many have found indirect, allegorical ways of expressing forbidden topics and issues in their films. But for many, allegory is much more than a foil against haphazardly applied censorship rules. Drawing on a long history of allegorical expression in Persian poetry and the arts, allegory has become an integral part of the poetics of Iranian cinema. Allegory in Iranian Cinema explores the allegorical aesthetics of Iranian cinema, explaining how it has emerged from deep cultural traditions and how it functions as a strategy for both supporting and resisting dominant ideology. As well as tracing the roots of allegory in Iranian cinema before and after the 1979 revolution, Langford also theorizes this cinematic mode. She draws on a range of cinematic, philosophical and cultural concepts - developed by thinkers such as Walter Benjamin, Gilles Deleuze, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Christian Metz and Vivian Sobchack - to provide a theoretical framework for detailed analyses of films by renowned directors of the pre-and post-revolutionary eras including Masoud Kimiai, Dariush Mehrjui, Ebrahim Golestan, Kamran Shirdel, Majid Majidi, Jafar Panahi, Marziyeh Meshkini, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Rakhshan Bani-Etemad and Asghar Farhadi. Allegory in Iranian Cinema explains how a centuries-old means of expression, interpretation, encoding and decoding becomes, in the hands of Irans most skilled cineastes, a powerful tool with which to critique and challenge social and cultural norms.

Reviews

[W]onderfully informative Langfords descriptions of the films under discussion are evocative throughout, and the flexibility of her approach to allegory allows for the cohabitation of vastly different films in each chapter, as well as the capacity to adopt distinct approaches for reading films by the same director. * Affirmations of the Modern *
This stimulating study views and analyzes the allegorical features of modern Iranian cinema not just as a protective strategy, a way to evade censorship, but as an integral part of the poetics of Irans vibrant cinematic arta way to bring out the ineffable in a society in which art, especially poetry, has always had ambiguous layers of meaning Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, researchers, faculty. * CHOICE *
Lovers of Iranian films should be grateful to Michelle Langford for her fascinating book in which she treats a wide range of subjects, that form the core of modern Persian society such as art and poetry, male female relationships, womans emancipation, ambiguity and censorship, and aesthetics and symbolism. With a smooth pen, attractive style, and superior analyses, she takes the reader through these topics by examining several films by acclaimed Iranian film directors. * Asghar Seyed-Gohrab, Associate Professor of Persian, Leiden University, Netherlands *
The book beautifully demonstrates the allegorical aesthetics of Iranian cinema over a range of genres and time periods, creating an effective dialogue with the existing scholarship on the poetics of Iranian cinema. * Maryam Ghorbankarimi, Lecturer in Film Practice, Lancaster University, UK *
Clear, thoughtful, and accessible, Langfords book is by far the most incisive close reading of some of Iranian cinemas most iconic works from the pre- and post-revolution periods. The pages crackle with brilliance, revealing piece by piece the creativity and ingenuity of this internationally acclaimed film industry. A must read.' * Negar Mottahedeh, Professor, Program in Literature, Duke University, USA *

Author Bio

Michelle Langford is Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Her research spans the cinemas of Iran and Germany. She is author of Allegorical Images: Tableau, Time and Gesture in the Cinema of Werner Schroeter (2006) and the editor of The Directory of World Cinema: Germany (2012, 2013). Her work on Iranian cinema has appeared in leading film studies journals including Camera Obscura, Screen and Screening the Past.