The Cow (1969 film)
The Cow | |
---|---|
Gholam Hossein Saedi | |
Produced by | Dariush Mehrjui |
Starring | Ezzatolah Entezami Firouz Behjat-Mohamadi Mahmoud Dowlatabadi Parviz Fannizadeh Jamshid Mashayekhi Ali Nassirian Ezatallah Ramezanifar Esmat Safavi Jafar Vali |
Cinematography | Fereydon Ghovanlou |
Music by | Hormoz Farhat |
Release date |
|
Running time | 100 minutes |
Country | Iran |
Language | Persian |
The Cow (
Plot
The story begins by showcasing the close relationship between a middle-aged Iranian villager Masht Hassan and his beloved
Analysis
The movie is very well-known because of its psychological and social criticisms. There are several psychological messages behind the main character’s delusion of being a cow. It opens up Marx's theory of alienation and social alienation and describes how the main character loses himself in the struggle of finding his cow which is his most valuable property.[3] It reveals how much Masht Hassan and his family’s life is depended on the cow both economically and emotionally that Masht Hassan cannot handle the situation logically.[4]
The movie depicts a very superstitious society in which people believe in an ultimate ultra-mundane power which will save them from the devil, the eternal enemy of mankind. The shadows of this illusion (enemy illusion) are to the extent that the people having a sense of paranoia and are always ready to confront the conspiracy of their enemies. In such a society, women have no significant role apart from being good wives and mothers who are expected to follow the social norm and be a typical Iranian woman.
Cast
- Ezzatollah Entezamias Masht Hasan
- Mahin Shahabi as Masht Hasan's wife
- Ali Nassirian as Masht Eslam
- Jamshid Mashayekhi as Abbas
- Firouz Behjat-Mohamadi
- Jafar Vali as Kadkhoda (Village headman)
- Khosrow Shojazadeh as young man
- Ezzatollah Ramazanifar as madman
- Esmat Safavi as old woman
- Mahmoud Dowlatabadi as Esma'il
- Parviz Fannizadeh
- Mahtaj Nojoomi as Esma'il's sisterbetter source needed]
Development
The
Funded by the
Reception
The Cow was immediately banned by the Shah because of its negative portrayal of impoverishment in rural Iran. It was later smuggled out of the country and won the
Iran's
Indie Cinema wrote that the film "adds a mystical vision and surreal sequences" to the Italian neorealism by which it was inspired.[4]
Reviewing the film as part of a 1998 retrospective of the director's work, the
Awards
- Best Film Award La Rochelle 1994
- OCIC Award - Recommendation - Forum of New Film 22nd Berlin International Film Festival 1972
- FIPRESCI Prize 32nd Venice International Film Festival 1971
- Award for Best Screenplay Sepas Film Festival 1970
Notes
- ^ A different lens
- ^ “The Cow” and the Birth of Iranian New Wave
- ^ Zara Afthab (2023-10-27). "Gav/ The Cow (1969)". AnOther Magazine. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
- ^ a b "The Cow". Indie Cinema. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
- ^ IMDb, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064356/
- ^ tebyan.net, موسسه فرهنگی واطلاع رسانی تبیان | (2008-08-21). "معالجه کردن بوعلی سینا / آن صاحب مالیخولیا را". fa. Retrieved 2022-09-20.
- ^ a b Jan-Christopher Horak (2016-06-10). "Dariush Mehrjui's The Cow (1969)". UCLA Library: Film and Television Archive. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
- ^ "The Cow « Thirtyframesasecond". Thirtyframesasecond.wordpress.com. 2008-11-13. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
- ^ "Iranian Cinema before the Revolution 1925–1979". Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York. November 2023. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
- ^ Godfrey Cheshire (8 November 1998). "FILM; Revealing an Iran Where the Chadors Are Most Chic". New York Times. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
External links
- The Cow at IMDb
- Fribourg International Film Festival
- Fandor
- Dariush Mehrjui discusses The Cow on YouTube, FirouzanFilms
- The Cow in Films Anywhere You Want