The Peddler - 1986
Directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Consisting of three separate stories shot by three different cameramen, director Mohsen Makhmalbaf's movie deals with issues such as poverty, insanity, and betrayal. The first story involves a poor couple who venture to the richer areas of the city to abandon their newborn where a wealthy family will find and adopt it. The second story details a deranged man's slip into isolation and insanity as he cares for his senile mother. The third story and the movie's namesake shows the final moments of the life of a peddler who has fallen out of favor with his boss.
Color, 1 hour 35 minutes, Farsi
Original Title: Dastforoush
Trailer currently not available
Star Rating
Firouzan Rank # 43
Cast
| Zohreh Sarmadi | |
| Esmail Soltanian | |
| Behzad Behzadpour | |
| Morteza Zarrabi | |
| Jafar Dehghan | |
| Farid Kashan Fallah |
Crew
| Writer | Mohsen Makhmalbaf Alberto Moravia |
| Director | Mohsen Makhmalbaf |
| Director of Photography | Homayoun Paivar Mehrdad Fakhimi Ali Reza Zarrindoust |
| Editor | Mohsen Makhmalbaf |
| Sound Mixer | Mohsen Roshan |
| Music | Majid Entezami |
Pictures
The father of a poor family who live in an abandoned double decker bus watches as an ambulance arrives to pick up his wife for child birth.
The latest child faces the same crippling disease that has struck her older siblings.
The couple hopes to abandon the child with a rich family, but this proves to be difficult.
Leaving their child at the steps of a wealthy family's home.
A deranged young man dusts his mother's apartment.
The invalid mother.
The man eggs on the crowd that taunts him daily.
When the man ventures outside he exhibits extremely childish behavior.
The Peddler.
Facing his boss who thinks he is a rat.
DVD
This movie is currently only available on VHS
External Reviews
By Janet Maslin The New York Times
Though its production company is the Arts Bureau of the Organization for the Propagation of Islamic Thought, the Iranian film "The Peddler" is in no way a work of propaganda. In fact, it takes for granted a devastating, almost unbearably high level of misery. Though it aims at times for an incongruously rueful, almost whimsical tone, its overall impression is one of unadulterated suffering. "The Peddler" is terribly sad, and perhaps even more powerful than it means to be. Continued
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