Leila's Brothers

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Leila's Brothers

2022

2h 45m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

86%

Tomatometer

14 Reviews

90%

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

At 40 years old, Leila has spent her whole life taking care of her parents and her four brothers. The family argues constantly and is crushed by debts, in a country caught in the grip of international economic sanctions. As her brothers are trying to make ends meet, Leila formulates a plan: to start a family business that would save them for poverty. While they are in desperate need of financial support, Leila finds out that their father Esmail has secretly been hiding a family heirloom. He had been saving it as an offering to become the new Patriarch of the clan, the highest honor in the Persian tradition. This uncovering will bring chaos to the already fragile family dynamics. As the father’s health deteriorates, the actions of each family member will gradually lead the family one step closer to implosion.

Katie Karp

Austin Chronicle

The display of sibling love and support is heartwarming, reminding the American audience in their highly individualistic society what it means to be selfless.

Apr 21, 2023

Full Review

David Jenkins

Little White Lies

A film whose every frame and line of dialogue is calculated to perfection, and the kind of credibly intricate plotting – with new reveals parcelled out like small gifts – that keeps you compelled (and then some) from the first frame till the last.

May 26, 2022

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Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

A big, absorbing, character-driven family drama in the Italian-American style with fierce performances, a huge set-piece wedding scene and touches of Visconti’s Rocco and His Brothers and Coppola’s The Godfather.

Rated: 4/5

May 25, 2022

Full Review

Stephanie Bunbury

Deadline Hollywood Daily

The small dramas of these very ordinary people play out in a beautifully modulated series of mistakes and missteps, always stopping short of a final crisis or dramatic climax promising resolution. That would sound a false note; there are no false notes.

Sep 21, 2023

Full Review

Michael Sicinski

In Review Online

This is a long, bad film about pontificating imbeciles who barely resemble actual human beings, and the whole mess is played as if it were some sort of Greek tragedy.

Apr 8, 2023

Full Review

Rene Sanchez

Cine Sin Fronteras

A fascinating family saga that explores the complex relationships between parents, children and siblings, and the fight against a patriarchal society. [Full Review in Spanish]

Rated: 4/4

Dec 31, 2022

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Samir S

Saeed Roustayi's Leila's Brothers is an intimate portrait of a family stretched to its breaking point, led by Leila (Taraneh Alidoosti), whose life becomes a ledger balancing debt, duty, and resilience. Set against Iran's economic turmoil, the film funnels a nation's struggle through the lens of one household. Roustaee places us in the cramped rooms, capturing micro-explosions of anger, desperation, and fleeting tenderness. The film's power lies in its psychological clarity: Leila's rage reveals itself in a slow burn of managing chaos while being invisible. Taraneh Alidoosti's performance is magnetic, holding in tension between what is said and left unsaid. Economics, traditions, and aspirations collide in the small dramas of daily survival: a wedding, a business pitch, a heated argument. Each scene reflects larger forces, sanctions, patriarchal expectations, class anxiety, without ever losing focus on the human centers at its core. Leila's Brothers is a film that leaves you unsettled, as it lets you feel the small tremors beneath.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

07/02/25

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Saeed Roustayi

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Synopsis

At 40 years old, Leila has spent her whole life taking care of her parents and her four brothers. The family argues constantly and is crushed by debts, in a country caught in the grip of international economic sanctions. As her brothers are trying to make ends meet, Leila formulates a plan: to start a family business that would save them for poverty. While they are in desperate need of financial support, Leila finds out that their father Esmail has secretly been hiding a family heirloom. He had been saving it as an offering to become the new Patriarch of the clan, the highest honor in the Persian tradition. This uncovering will bring chaos to the already fragile family dynamics. As the father’s health deteriorates, the actions of each family member will gradually lead the family one step closer to implosion.

Director: Saeed Roustayi
Producer: Javad Noruzbegi, Saeed Roustayi
Screenwriter: Saeed Roustayi
Production Co: Iris Film, The Searchers NV
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Persian
Runtime: 2h 45m