# Roozi khe zan shodam (2000)

### reviewed by
Laura Clifford

THE DAY I BECAME A WOMAN (Roozi khe zan shodam)

As a thesis project for her husband's Makhmalbaf Film House, Marzieh Meshkini has chosen a triptych written by her husband Mohsen Makhmalbaf ("Gabbeh") which presents the repression of women in Iranian society in "The Day I Became a Woman."

In the first episode, Havva (Eve, played by non-actor Ftemeh Cheragh Akhtar) learns that her ninth birthday means that she's become a woman who must cover her head with the chador and no longer play with her male friend (Hassan Nabehan). Her mother relents and gives her one hour (until the time of her birth) of freedom. Havva finds Hassan and the two share a lollipop and tamarind (an act which the Iranian censors found too erotic). When Havva's stick no longer shows a shadow, it's noon and she returns to her home.

Ahoo (Gazelle, Shabnam Toloui) is in a bicycle race, yet is constantly beseeched by the males of her town to come to her senses and return. Her husband and his lawyer chase after her on horseback and threaten on the spot divorce. Her extended male family next attempts to convince her that her husband still loves her and will take her back. Finally the town elders try evoking the punishment of God himself, yet Ahoo cycles on.

The final story features Houra (Black-eyed Beauty, Azizeh Seddighi), an old woman in a wheelchair who arrives at the airport and hires a young boy (Badr Irouni Nejad) to assist her in buying all the things she's always needed (furniture, appliances) which she surrounds herself with on the beach.

It's clear that this is meant to be a representation of one woman's life, with a raft powered by a sail made from Havva's chador featured in the first and final episodes. Each story features more modern ammenities than the previous. The young girl succumbs to tradition after a last blast of freedom. The young wife tries to flee but is finally caught up by men. The old woman attempts to find happiness by ironically embodying the Iranian male concept of a woman as consumer rather than producer.

Meshkini's film, which features different technical credits for each of its segments, uses three different styles quite cohesively. The initial, most simple segment, recalls all Iranian films which deal with children ("The White Balloon," etc.) The second begins to become more stylized, with the black clad female bicyclers strikingly portrayed against the blue sea and blinding sunlight of the Island of Kish. The third is downright surreal, with small boys vacuuming sand and bedrooms set up on the beach. The film is visually stunning although the sound mix is uneven.

"The Day I Became a Woman" is a trio of fables which simply yet evocatively lay out the problems of being a woman in Iran and the filmmaking Makhmalbaf clan have seemingly overcome these problems and produced a new voice in director Meshkini.

    B

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