Shayda, the heartfelt first feature directed by Noora Niasari, is a compelling story of an Iranian woman fleeing domestic abuse to seek cultural freedom.
Letting Go
by Alexa DalbyShayda
CAUTION: Here be spoilers
Zar Amir Ebrahimi is the Iranian actress who was so gripping in Holy Spider. In Shayda she is again compelling, this time as Shayda, a tortured and tormented mother, a sufferer of domestic abuse – an Iranian expatriate in Australia with only phone contact with her own uncomprehending mother in Iran. With her six-year-old daughter Mona (excellent little Selina Zahednia) she has fled to a women’s refuge while she seeks a divorce.
Shayda is strongly supported by Joyce (Leah Purcell), the formidable Australian woman who runs the refuge. Shayda’s controlling husband Hossein (Osamah Sami),an Iranian medical student, is presented as a swarthy villain who sees divorce as a humiliating anathema in Iranian culture and behaves violently – he cannot and will not let Shayda and Mona go.
The film starts as the court unexpectedly grants him access rights to Mona and with Shayda’s fear that flows from that.
As a result of these meetings, without understanding adult behaviour, little Mona becomes the innocent repository of conflicting secrets. Hossein uses Mona as a weapon to control Shayda: he tries to get Mona to reveal what Shayda is doing and where they are living. Shayda tries to keep details of her new life from him to make the breakup work. But Mona doesn’t understand what’s going on: Shayda tries to make things normal, as far as possible.
Sensitive Shayda shows her much-loved Mona as much as she can of Persian culture and teaches her about her culture and about Nowruz, the Persian New Year. Director Noora Niasari uses the approaching festival as a symbol of new beginnings.
Shayda is based on Niasari’s own experiences as a child. Cate Blanchett is an executive producer. So the film feels authentic, closely based on childhood trauma and Niasari’s love for her mother, who years ago wanted the same freedoms as Shayda.
The scene where Shayda cuts her hair is culturally significant, as are the recent Woman Life Freedom protests following the questionable arrest and unexplained death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.
The storytelling is straightforward yet also very suspenseful. Though violent at times, perhaps that is the truth of the emotionally searing situation that Shayda is in. It is a very involving and moving film. But are the four stars given to the film for its content rather than the screenwriting and filmmaking? We shall see in time.
Shayda premiered at Sundance, screened at Locarno and is released on 19 July in the UK.
