The Royal Tenenbaums Review

by Laura Clifford (laura AT reelingreviews DOT com)
June 16th, 2003
TEN
---

Over the course of a few days, a woman has ten conversations with her passengers, her young, combative son, her sister, a fellow mausoleum attender, a street walker and an old female beggar. Through these everyday errands, writer/cinematographer/director Abbas Kiarostami ("The Wind Will Carry Us") explores what life is like for a modern Iranian woman in "Ten."

Who would have thought a movie centered on a driver and her passengers that never leaves the car could be so compellingly watchable? "Ten" is not only a fascinating character study, but a portrait of an entire way of life.

Amin (Amin Maher) is a mini-tyrant who screams at his mother for divorcing his father, for lying, for lecturing, for not being his idea of a good wife and mother. Maher is hysterically funny to watch, but beneath the entertaining tirade is commentary on traditional Iranian male values and the extreme measures women must take to circumvent them. Kiarostami doesn't even show us his central figure until he moves to the second segment.

Amin's mother (Mania Akbari) is a beautiful, elegantly turned out woman with designer sunglasses and smart makeup who we will learn is a professional photographer. As she runs errands for her husband's birthday, she dishes with her more tradition-bound sister, who frowns upon a bakery-bought cake. Later, driving to a restaurant in the evening, the driver shows no sympathy to her sister who is sobbing over the loss of her man ('We cling to everything!' the driver admonishes), yet when her prayer friend is jilted by her fiance and reacts with thoughtful sadness, she listens and offers understanding. (She's taken up prayer visits after an amusing encounter with an old woman who verbally archives her lost belongings - 20 pillows! 8 mattresses!)

Kiarostami's 'Ten Conversations About Everything' covers the battle between the sexes, marriage, religion, global media and women in the workplace and Mania Akbari is luminous covering this vast terrain. She sparks with anger, melts with tenderness and glints with amusement. Maher shows confidence beyond his years and is vastly entertaining to watch. The actress who plays the bride-not-to-be has a stunningly cinematic face and gives a moving, melancholy performance. The film's only weak segment is the one with the hooker, which simply restates the old chestnut that marriage is just another form of sex for payment.

Kiarostami employs a digital video dash-cam to photograph his subjects, editing between driver and passenger only when they are on equal footing Tensions ease with Amin and his amused mother is cut into the scene. We never see the hooker or the street walker, except as they exit the vehicle. He chapters his scenes with a test pattern countdown punctuated with the loud 'ding' of a hotel reception desk bell. Location sound is sometimes problematic, when lowered car windows allow in too much background street noise. Howard Blake's "Walking in the Air," from the beloved animation "The Snowman," plays over the closing credits.

A simple sounding project with richly complex and rewarding results, "Ten" is a marvel.

A-

For more Reeling reviews visit http://www.reelingreviews.com

More on 'The Royal Tenenbaums'...

---

Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.