Subtraction

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Subtraction

2022

1h 47m

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

100%

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13 Reviews

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Farzaneh spots her husband, Jalal, entering an unknown woman's house. When she confronts Jalal, he claims he wasn't in town. Jalal decides to check out the house for himself and meets a woman named Bita, who is the spitting image of Farzaneh.

Sandra Hall

Sydney Morning Herald

Somehow, Haghighi translates this ingenious bit of fantasy into a work of social realism. The premise may be incredible but the way it plays out is not.

Rated: 4/5

Feb 29, 2024

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Richard Brody

The New Yorker

What... renders it an exemplary work of modern cinema isn’t just the way that it achieves large-scale effects through the patient accumulation of small details—it’s also the sense of cinematic subjectivity with which these details are realized.

Jan 25, 2024

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Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

AWFJ.org

The doppelganger premise of the film grants Haghighi space to explore the depths of his thematic interest in identity, gender and violence in contemporary Iran, rendering Subtraction a powerful and intelligent exercise in genre play.

Aug 21, 2023

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Louis Skye (Ronita Roy Mohan)

Women Write About Comics

I’m delighted I watched Subtraction. This film had me guessing at every turn! I couldn’t predict what the characters would do and what the consequences of those actions would be. It was a bonkers — and sometimes horrifying — ride and I was entranced.

Aug 21, 2025

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Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

An intelligent exercise in fantasy filmmaking.

Rated: B

Jul 11, 2024

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John McDonald

Australian Financial Review

The realistic approach makes the implausible seem plausible, even as Farzaneh and her doctor think she must be going mad.

Apr 19, 2024

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Leila K

Great movie by Mani Haghighi. Very complex and psycholocally challenging movie. Great play by the legend of all time Taraneh Alidoosti.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/02/24

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Ali

The opening scene and the ending scene could be part of a reasonably good thriller mystery movie. Every thing in between was irrelevant, incoherent and more or less a comedy.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

03/05/24

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Mani Haghighi

Director

Taraneh Alidoosti

Farzaneh

Navid Mohammadzadeh

Jalal

Ali Bagheri

Actor

Soheyla Razavi

Actor

Gilda Vishki

Actor

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Synopsis

Farzaneh spots her husband, Jalal, entering an unknown woman's house. When she confronts Jalal, he claims he wasn't in town. Jalal decides to check out the house for himself and meets a woman named Bita, who is the spitting image of Farzaneh.

Director: Mani Haghighi
Producer: Majid Motalebi
Screenwriter: Mani Haghighi, Amir Reza Koohestani
Production Co: Iranian Independents
Genre: Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: Persian
Runtime: 1h 47m