An interesting phenomenon happens at the Cannes Film Festival. In some years, there are only favorite films. Any one of them could take home the Palme d’Or and the other awards. In others, a single film screens and no one has any doubt: it’s the Palme d’Or winner. That’s how it was when The White Ribbon won in 2009. Or with Parasite in 2019. The 77th edition got its Palme d’Or on its last day and penultimate film: The Seed of the Sacred Fig, by Iran’s Mohammad Rasoulof, who won the Golden Bear in Berlin in 2020 with There Is No Evil.
Rasoulof made noise even before arriving at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. On May 8th, the filmmaker was sentenced to eight years in prison, lashes, a fine, and confiscation of property. The director had been arrested before and had his passport confiscated, always because of his films or for protesting actions of the Iranian government. When he won the Golden Bear, he couldn’t attend, for example.
Director and Crew Were Exiled from Iran
Members of his crew and cast were interrogated, and Rasoulof was pressured to withdraw The Seed of the Sacred Fig from Cannes. On May 13th, Jean-Christophe Simon, CEO of Films Boutique and Parallel45, announced that Rasoulof had left Iran on foot and was in a European country, awaiting asylum. Shortly after, the Cannes Festival confirmed that he would participate in the gala and official activities.
Watching The Seed of the Sacred Fig, one can understand the Iranian government’s unease – remembering that President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter accident on the 20th. Rasoulof has always been critical of the Islamic regime. There Is No Evil deals with the death penalty in the authoritarian country. But his new film is a direct hit on the government and a tremendous display of courage from the director.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig: Iran Between Patriarchy and Female Revolts
The protests against the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody, after she was arrested for incorrectly wearing her hijab, are seen here from the point of view of a family. Iman (Misagh Zare) has just been promoted to investigative judge of the Revolutionary Guard Court when the female revolt explodes in the country. His daughters, Rezvan (Mahsa Rostami) and Sana (Setareh Maleki), join the other women, while the mother, Najmeh (Soheila Golestani), tries to keep the peace at home.
But The Seed of the Sacred Fig is not only strong politically, be it behind the scenes or in the theme it addresses. It is also bold as cinema, positioning the father as a symbol of the Iranian government and patriarchy, in a paranoid spiral that spares no one.
In a few minutes, the film goes from thriller to horror and melodrama, with a stunning final sequence, complemented by real images of people being executed and arrested violently – estimates reach about 500 deaths and thousands arrested.
Normally, applause at the gala doesn’t mean much. But at press screenings, it does. Rasoulof is poised to take the Palme d’Or with this feminist story about the patriarchy’s dread of female empowerment.
