Posted: Tue., Sep. 6, 2011, 8:38pm PT
Montreal World Film Fest
Facing Mirrors
Aynehaye rooberoo
(Iran)
By Ronnie Scheib
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117945989/Iranian femme director Negar Azarbeyjani's first feature, "Facing Mirrors," presents two women poles apart in class and beliefs -- one a naive traditionalist forced by circumstances to support her family, the other a rich pre-op transsexual running away from home. When a long taxi ride entangles their destinies, they slowly forge an unlikely friendship rooted in newfound solidarity, rather than moralistic notions of tolerance, which allows each to help the other accomplish complementary goals. This fascinating dual character study could lure gay and straight auds alike.
[...]
Adineh (Sheyesteh Irani, the most masculine and assertive of the soccer match-crashing girls in Jafar Panahi's "Offside"), registers desperation as cell-phone calls to a friend reveal that her father has sent the police to bring her home. She's fleeing the country to escape an arranged marriage engineered by her father, plans to get a transgender operation, and also wants to find a more welcome post-op milieu. Sensing Rana's unwillingness to go on, Adineh initially allays Rana's fears by assuring her that, despite her shorn hair and baseball cap, she is indeed a woman (and therefore harmless). Later, though, she completely terrifies Rana by admitting she's a transsexual.
