Reading Lolita in Tehran

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Reading Lolita in Tehran

2024

1h 48m

Drama

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5 Reviews

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Fewer than 50 Ratings

As Islamic morality squads stage arbitrary raids in Tehran and as fundamentalists seize hold of the universities, Azar Nafisi, an inspired teacher, secretly gathers six of her most committed female students to read forbidden western classics. Unaccustomed to being asked to speak their minds, they soon removed their veils, their stories intertwining with the novels they read: just like the heroines of Nabokov, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry James or Jane Austen, the women in Nafisi's living room dare to dream, hope and love as we experience the complexity of the lives of individuals facing political, moral and personal siege. Reading Lolita in Tehran is a remarkable exploration of women's resilience in revolutionary Iran.

Wendy Ide

Screen International

This is a stirring, if conventionally-made story of courage and curiosity in the face of oppression.

Nov 13, 2024

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Tomris Laffly

Variety

Riklis’ adaptation doesn’t always culminate in the grand emotions that Nafisi’s tale is made of. But it still lands as a respectable, aptly rebellious and deeply feminine exercise.

Oct 28, 2024

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Laura Pérez

Fotogramas

[The film] offers a successful overview of Iran's history,...but it misses the powerful stories of each of the women to generate the emotion found in other films about reading as a refuge and gesture of rebellion. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 3/5

Jul 25, 2025

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Carlos Boyero

El Pais (Spain)

It's watchable and enjoyable, but it's also discursive and repetitive. The intentions are very good, but the result less so. [Full review in Spanish]

Jul 25, 2025

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Begoña Piña

Cinemanía (Spain)

Culture as a tool against oppression. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 3/5

Jul 23, 2025

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Runa R

This Israeli director – Eran Riklis – made this film in 2024, at the age of 69. It is set in Iran. Films of this kind tend to be made either by Iranian filmmakers in exile, or by Israelis or others considered enemies of the Iranian regime. One way or another, we continue to learn about the horrors inflicted on women in that country.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/15/25

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Eran Riklis

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Golshifteh Farahani

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Zar Amir-Ebrahimi

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Synopsis

As Islamic morality squads stage arbitrary raids in Tehran and as fundamentalists seize hold of the universities, Azar Nafisi, an inspired teacher, secretly gathers six of her most committed female students to read forbidden western classics. Unaccustomed to being asked to speak their minds, they soon removed their veils, their stories intertwining with the novels they read: just like the heroines of Nabokov, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry James or Jane Austen, the women in Nafisi's living room dare to dream, hope and love as we experience the complexity of the lives of individuals facing political, moral and personal siege. Reading Lolita in Tehran is a remarkable exploration of women's resilience in revolutionary Iran.

Director: Eran Riklis
Producer: Marica Stocchi, Gianluca Curti, Moshe Edery, Santo Versace, Eran Riklis, Michael Sharfshtein
Screenwriter: Marjorie David, Azar Nafisi
Production Co: Minerva Pictures, WestEnd Films, RAI Cinema, Eran Riklis Productions, Rosamont, United King Films, Topia Communications
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Runtime: 1h 48m