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Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness

Yalda, la nuit du pardon

2019

Massoud Bakhshi

Sadaf Asgari, Zakieh Behbahani, Arman Darvish, Forough Ghajabagli ...

6.0

544

Drama Maryam is a 22 years-old woman who has been sentenced to death for murdering her husband, Nasser, 65 years-old. Iranian law allows for the victim’s family to forgive her and spare her life, so Maryam’s fate will be decided by Nasser’s daughter, Mona, on the country’s most popular televised reality show. In front of millions of viewers during Yalda, the winter solstice celebration, Maryam and Mona discover that forgiveness can be difficult as they relive the past. [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Tomris Laffly Variety	"Even though there are multifarious ideas here around penitence and forgiveness as linchpins of Islam, 'Yalda' eventually neglects the darker avenues of these themes"	NEU
United States	Deborah Young The Hollywood Reporter	"A clever, suspenseful exposé of Sharia law."	POS
United Kingdom	Allan Hunter Screendaily	"The slick assurance of Bakhshi’s approach makes for an accessible, pacey melodrama but one that can also seem to trivialise the life and death matters at the core of the story."	NEU
	Fabien Lemercier Cineuropa	"The director and writer confirms his skill for efficient storytelling with a film reflecting on thorny moral and social questions"	POS
United States	Andrew Bundy The Playlist	"[It] has dramatic momentum but leans too hard into sensationalism"	NEU

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