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The Salesman

Play trailer 2:16 Poster for The Salesman PG-13 Released Jan 27, 2017 2h 5m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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96% Tomatometer 198 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.
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The Salesman

The Salesman

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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.

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Critics Reviews

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Alexandra Heller-Nicholas The Blue Lenses The opening moments of The Salesman underscore Farhadi's status as one of the great unsung visual stylists of contemporary cinema. Aug 25, 2018 Full Review Namrata Joshi The Hindu 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. Jul 12, 2018 Full Review Wendy Ide Observer (UK) 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. Rated: 4/5 Mar 19, 2017 Full Review Pradeep Menon Firstpost 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... Rated: 3.5/5 Oct 25, 2023 Full Review Vadim Rizov Filmmaker Magazine There’s a general literal-mindedness to Farhadi that’s wince-inducing. Jan 17, 2023 Full Review Keith Garlington Keith & the Movies Farhadi’s skillful treatment is anything but pointless and helps to prod our minds to think more about the film’s meaning. Rated: 4.5/5 Aug 25, 2022 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (143) audience reviews
Kyle M 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) Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 09/10/24 Full Review Joshua W 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. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/24 Full Review G B Good rendering of the emotions and the characters did play out well. Involved the audience to build the characters on their own instead of playing it all out. Worth watching. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 11/12/23 Full Review Georgan G 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. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 07/07/23 Full Review dave s 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. The only fault with the film, without giving too much away, is why the elderly man visits the apartment in place of his future son-in-law knowing of its history. Despite this, and 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. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Johnson F 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. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/22/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Salesman

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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
Memento Films, Arte France Cinema, 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
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