Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

The Salesman

Play trailer 2:16 Poster for The Salesman PG-13 2017 2h 5m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
96% Tomatometer 196 Reviews 84% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
After their flat becomes damaged, Emad (Shahab Hosseini) and Rana (Taraneh Alidoosti), a young couple living in Tehran, Iran, must move into another apartment. Once relocated, a sudden eruption of violence linked to the previous tenant of their new home dramatically changes their lives, creating a simmering tension between husband and wife.
Watch on Prime Video Stream Now

Where to Watch

The Salesman

The Salesman

What to Know

Critics Consensus

The Salesman takes an ambitiously complex look at thought-provoking themes, and the well-acted results prove another consistently absorbing entry in writer-director Asghar Farhadi's distinguished filmography.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View More
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas The Blue Lenses 08/25/2018
The opening moments of The Salesman underscore Farhadi's status as one of the great unsung visual stylists of contemporary cinema. Go to Full Review
Namrata Joshi The Hindu 07/12/2018
Despite the specificity of modern-day Iran, The Salesman can transpire anywhere, any time. After all dysfunctional families, messy relationships and marriages on the verge of breakdown can't be confined either by national boundaries or time zones. Go to Full Review
Wendy Ide Observer (UK) 03/19/2017
4/5
There is perhaps no director more adept at capturing the unfolding stories of ordinary people when the drama of their lives runs away with them. Go to Full Review
Pradeep Menon Firstpost 10/25/2023
3.5/5
Apart from shared themes that the play and the film have — primarily in terms of one's interpretation of and reaction to reality, the theatre portions also show how life sometimes forces you to go out into the world and put on an act... Go to Full Review
Vadim Rizov Filmmaker Magazine 01/17/2023
There’s a general literal-mindedness to Farhadi that’s wince-inducing. Go to Full Review
Keith Garlington Keith & the Movies 08/25/2022
4.5/5
Farhadi’s skillful treatment is anything but pointless and helps to prod our minds to think more about the film’s meaning. Go to Full Review
Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More
Kyle M 09/10/2024 Once more, Asghar Farhadi gives a thematic hefty deliverance with exceptional performances and diverting expectancy as a challenging viewpoint, climatically proven problematic, however, amid the confrontational twist’s ambiguously behavioral implications. (B) See more Joshua W 03/31/2024 The movie starts very slowly. I was starting to get bored. But there is a build up of tension as Emad goes out to look for the offender. When the movie reaches a not-disappointing climax, all sorts of questions will enter the viewer's head regarding right and wrong, shoulds and shouldn'ts, definition of justice. Well acted by all involved. I quite enjoyed Shahab Hosseini's complex performance and I wouldn't mind seeing a movie with him again. This movie leaves an impression that the viewer won't quickly forget. See more Georgan G 07/07/2023 This play within a film added another layer of complexity atop the already different issues of interpersonal culture in Iranian society. Not that I expected them to have ideal medical & human services for trauma. I wasn't clear on whether the couple left together or walked apart. See more Dave S 01/12/2023 Over the last fifteen years, Iranian director Asghar Farhadi has proven to be a filmmaker to be reckoned with. Consistent with his emphasis on moral dilemmas stemming from societal issues, The Salesman is the story of a young couple from Tehran forced to leave their condemned apartment, eventually finding a home in the recently vacated unit of a ‘promiscuous' woman. A violent incident involving the wife eventually leads the couple down a dangerous road of misguided retribution and accountability. Farhadi's script is lean and insightful, providing an interesting story and well-developed characters. While it may not resonate with the same power as A Separation from a few years earlier (but what does?), it remains a quietly suspenseful drama that's well worth a watch. See more Johnson F 12/20/2022 Asghar Farhadi's second Academy Award win for Best Foreign Language Film is a social realist drama that unveils with unnerving disquiet the truth of sexual violence against women in a patriarchal society in a narrative of scenes from a disintegrating marriage of two actors in a production of Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman after a most unfortunate domestic attack. See more jochen t 05/01/2022 A gripping story of love, pride and revenge. See more Read all reviews
The Salesman

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW
The Past 92% 83% The Past Watchlist Priceless % 76% Priceless Watchlist TRAILER for Priceless Breaking In 27% 32% Breaking In Watchlist TRAILER for Breaking In The Intruder 35% 67% The Intruder Watchlist TRAILER for The Intruder Trade of Innocents 0% 56% Trade of Innocents Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis After their flat becomes damaged, Emad (Shahab Hosseini) and Rana (Taraneh Alidoosti), a young couple living in Tehran, Iran, must move into another apartment. Once relocated, a sudden eruption of violence linked to the previous tenant of their new home dramatically changes their lives, creating a simmering tension between husband and wife.
Director
Asghar Farhadi
Producer
Alexandre Mallet-Guy, Asghar Farhadi
Screenwriter
Asghar Farhadi
Distributor
Cohen Media Group, Amazon Studios
Production Co
Arte France Cinema, Memento Films, Asghar Farhadi
Rating
PG-13 (Mature Thematic Elements|A Brief Bloody Image)
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Persian
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 27, 2017, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
May 2, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA)
$3.4M
Runtime
2h 5m
Most Popular at Home Now