Screen/Society--"The Cow" (Dariush Mehrjui, 1969)

Film Screening:

"THE COW"
(Dariush Mehrjui, 1969, 104 min, Iran, Farsi with English subtitles, Digital)

One of the defining works of the Iranian New Wave, THE COW (1969) follows a farmer named Hassan, whose only source of joy and livelihood is his cow. When the cow is mysteriously killed one night, a metamorphosis ensues. Based on short stories by psychiatrist Gholam-Hossein Sa'edi, Mehruji's landmark feature melds neorealism, surrealism, and mysticism in a deeply moving exploration of solitude, obsession, and grief. The Cow was funded by the Iranian government, yet was immediately banned after completion due to its negative portrayal of rural Iranian poverty. The film was smuggled to the Venice Film Festival in 1971 where it won the FIPRESCI or critics' prize, rapidly gaining international recognition as a masterpiece thereafter. Poignantly wrapped in layers of religion and leftist politics (two major forces of the 1979 revolution), THE COW charted a new future for Iranian cinema.

Cannes Film Festival, Director's Fortnight, 1971
FIPRESCI Prize, Venice Film Festival, 1971
OCIC Award - Recommendation, Berlin International Film Festival, 1972

"More than a mellifluous flow, THE COW lingers in the mind as a collection of intrusions and interruptions: images of hands emerging comically out of darkened windows to serve afternoon tea; a group of village elders peering pensively into a barn window, crammed into a symmetric, planimetric frame within a frame; the wrinkled faces of the elderly women (presumably non-actors) who carry out a ritual mourning, and then later prepare for the celebratory wedding rites. There's a tactility to such images, to say nothing of the unexpectedly open narrative that contains it, all creating the distinct impression of a filmmaker exploring a set of expressive, expansive possibilities." - Lawrence Garcia, MUBI