The Salesman derives much of its power from uncomplicated theatrical techniques and trappings. This is echoed when Emad’s private dispute with Babak erupts before the audience as he goes angrily off script.įarhadi, who studied dramatic arts and stage direction at university, started out writing plays and has spoken of his hopes to put on theatre in the UK. Early on in the film, Emad makes the jokey suggestion that the couple will have to temporarily move into the theatre, but Farhadi shows us that they cannot help but bring their domestic problems on to the stage anyway, just as personal strife can spill into any workplace. However, she has a breakdown provoked by the gaze of a particular male audience member. When Rana decides to carry on performing despite her ordeal, we wonder if “doctor theatre”, as actors sometimes call it, will provide a temporary distraction for her pain.
The stakes are raised for certain stage scenes in The Salesman because we know the mental states of the actors are agitated. Photograph: Habib Majidi/Allstar/Memento Films Shahab Hosseini and Taraneh Alidoosti arrive to look around their new apartment. There is no equivalent merging of real and dream worlds in Farhadi’s film, and the Etesamis are younger than the Lomans and as yet childless, but Farhadi teases out similar themes to Miller such as a particularly masculine sense of pride, ambition and shame. It would be a mistake to draw too many comparisons between their story and Miller’s play. To be brief: the Etesamis move into a new apartment thanks to a favour from fellow actor Babak, the previous occupant was a sex worker, and a double case of mistaken identity leaves Rana traumatised and Emad obsessed with revenge. The Salesman is a film best seen without knowing too much about the plot. He does this by conveying not just the nervous tension crackling between actors relying upon each other on a stage – which he achieves by up-close camerawork – but also a sense of fragility in the very sets that surround them. The opening shot in the film is of the Lomans’ bed and Farhadi’s expertly paced account of the actors’ personal dramas lives up to Miller’s subtitle: “Certain private conversations in two acts and a requiem.” Farhadi intersperses scenes from Miller’s play – both in rehearsals and the production – and cleverly captures the fragility of theatre performance. Emad and Rana’s domestic disaster occurs as they are rehearsing Miller’s Pulitzer winner, in which they portray Willy and Linda respectively.
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