Bitter Dream (Khab é talkh)
For forty years Esfandiar has been unconcernedly preparing corpses for the journey to their final resting place. One day, whilst preparing a burial service, he's taken ill. Might he too be mortal? As in much Iranian cinema, in this film all persons on screen play themselves, including the protagonist, a body-washer in real life. Mohsen Amiryoussefi's debut feature is a withering comic meditation on mortality and human intractability.
"I grew up during the Iran-Iraq war. Once more I constantly heard those 'sacred' words of martyrs and blood. In Iran we live in an atmosphere where death appears to be of greater importance than life. That's why I decided to use humour as the most free and the most efficient weapon that exists. The 'hero' of my film washes the dead. He's someone who, through revolution, war and executions, to my mind comes out on top of the situation with a certain detachment." Mohsen Amiryoussefi
Reviews
“An unlikely comedic success.”
Todd Lillethun, Film Monthly
Screens With
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When
9:15 PM Wednesday, 23 February
Buy Tickets Online
Mercury Cinema
Ticket Price
Full price $14
Industry $12
SPU Concession $10
As Part Of
General FeaturesAbout Bitter Dream
87 minutes35mm
1.66:1
Mono
In Farsi with English subtitles
Print Source
DreamLab
Nasrine Médard de Chardon
nasrine.mdc@wanadoo.fr
Awards
Mention spécial jury Caméra d’Or, Cannes 2004Prix Regards Jeunes, Cannes 2004
FIPRESCI Prize, Cinema tout ecran Geneva 2004
Festivals
Göteborg 2005Cannes 2004
Chicago 2004
Edinburgh 2004
Thessaloniki 2004
Hamburg 2004
Mar Del Plata 2004
Valladolid 2004
Montreal World Fim Festival 2004
About the Director
Mohsen Amiryoussefi
Born in 1972 in Abadan, southern Iraq, Mohsen Amiryoussefi grew up during the Iran-Iraq war amidst an atmosphere of martyrdom and death. He initially studied Mathematics and holds a Masters Degree from the University of Ispahan. He gradually turned to his true passion, the cinema, which affords him the greatest weapon of all: humour.