Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness

Name: Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness
Genre: Drama
Rating: 90
Cast: Sadaf Asgari, Behnaz Jafari, Babak Karimi, Fereshteh Sadrorafaei, Forough Ghajabagli

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2020

1h 29m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

90%

Tomatometer

21 Reviews

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Maryam, a young woman on death row for her husband's murder, joins a live show on Yalda night to seek forgiveness-only for shocking truths to be revealed.

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Carlos Aguilar

Los Angeles Times

The riveting and superbly acted Iranian drama, based on a real variety show, poses a moral crucible born out of a theocratic system that disfavors women amid the heightened tension of the on-camera spectacle.

Dec 11, 2020

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Roxana Hadadi

RogerEbert.com

It's a tricky balancing act that requires increasingly high stakes, and in its quieter moments Yalda sometimes loses momentum. But the scenes during which everything clicks together are so uncomfortable and so tense that you won't soon forget them.

Rated: 3/4

Mar 25, 2020

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Deborah Young

The Hollywood Reporter

A clever, suspenseful exposé of Sharia law.

Feb 6, 2020

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Rhys Handley

Vague Visages

Yalda shows itself to be a deft treatise on how the contradictions of our modern world complicate something even as simple as saying sorry.

Jun 5, 2023

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Filipe Freitas

Always Good Movies

It's an unpassionate, conventional and timid work, which I'm not prepared to forgive.

Rated: 2/5

Jan 15, 2022

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Joseph Fahim

Middle East Eye

Bakhshi craftily evokes the claustrophobic TV setting to deliver a biting criticism of class, muddled social justice, and the dehumanising and numbing impact of TV culture.

Jul 9, 2021

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Massoud Bakhshi

Director

Sadaf Asgari

Maryam

Behnaz Jafari

Mona

Babak Karimi

Ayat

Fereshteh Sadrorafaei

The mother

Forough Ghajabagli

Keshavarz

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Synopsis

Maryam, a young woman on death row for her husband's murder, joins a live show on Yalda night to seek forgiveness-only for shocking truths to be revealed.

Director: Massoud Bakhshi
Producer: Jacques Bidou, Marianne Dumoulin, Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu
Screenwriter: Massoud Bakhshi
Production Co: VOO, SRG - SSR, NiKo Film, Région Hauts-de-France, JBA Productions, Compagnie Cinématographique, La, Eurimages, Tita B Productions, nordmedia Fonds GmbH, Amour Fou Luxembourg, BE TV, Breizh Film Fund, Panache Productions, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, Pictanovo, Centre National du Cinéma et de L'image Animée, Radio Television Suisse, Schortcut Films, Close Up Films, Région Bretagne, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Cinéforom, Ali Mosaffa Productions, Film Fund Luxembourg, Filmförderungsanstalt
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Persian
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 27, 2021
Runtime: 1h 29m

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Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness

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