Iranian Director Saeed Roustayee on Making ‘Woman and Child’ With a Government Permit and Hijabs: I Wouldn’t ‘Have Been Able to Make a Film of This Scale Underground’

Iranian director Saeed Roustayee is back in Cannes with “Woman and Child,” a female empowerment drama premiering in competition. The film follows a 40-year-old widowed nurse named Mahnaz, who is struggling with a rebellious son and other complications in a heavily oppressive patriarchal context.

Roustayee’s new work segues from the somewhat similarly themed “Leila’s Brothers,” which launched from Cannes in 2022 and led to the director being sentenced to jail time for screening the film without government approval, though Roustayee did not go behind bars.

Related Stories

VIP+

Gaming Holds the Key to Brands Trying to Reach Gen Alpha 

Paradoxically, even before “Woman and Child” screened, the film came under fire — sight unseen — from some Iranian industry circles. They claimed that Roustayee sold out to the Iranian government because he produced the film with their permission, and also due to the fact that the women on screen all wear hijabs — which is not a realistic depiction of the current state of affairs given the widespread ongoing rebellion against the mandatory hijab rule across the country.

Roustayee has been passionately defended against these accusations by fellow Iranian helmer Mohammad Rasoulof, who in May 2024 escaped from Iran to Europe after receiving a jail sentence from the country’s authorities for making “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” which premiered at Cannes with the director in tow last year.

Below, Roustayee speaks to Variety about navigating the complexities of moviemaking in his turbulent country and why he’s not a sell out.

After “Leila’s Brothers,” you’ve made another film about female empowerment. Is it fair to say you feel this theme has a special urgency, especially in Iran?

Actually, “Woman and Child” is my third film in a row that is really centered around women. And, if you notice, the female protagonists of these three films become gradually more and more independent. So whereas in “Leila’s Brothers,” Leila was independent but still counted on her brothers – she asked them to do things and so on – the protagonist of this film is completely set free of the borders that have been created for her. She acts alone. She decides alone. She decides when to forgive. She takes her revenge alone. She doesn’t count on anyone. She doesn’t ask for anyone’s help, and she arrives to redemption alone also.

The protagonist, Mahnaz, played by Parinaz Izadyar, is a struggling 40-something single mom. Do you consider her emblematic of what many Iranian women are going through today?

Yes, I think there are many women like Mahnaz in Iran today. In fact, I can think of at least 10 of them around me in my personal life. I’ve sort of put them together, drawn inspiration from each one of them to create the character of Mahnaz. There are so many independent, often single, mothers in Iran today who have one, two, three children whom they support single-handedly. And indeed, similarly, we have many women who, in fact, support their own husbands. So it’s even a question of economic independence, not just spiritual and practical independence. I always think of my job, or my filmmaking, this way. I learn from society in order to make films. I can’t make films that don’t draw most of their inspiration from society. Of course, then I add a bit of imagination. But I can’t make a film about something that I haven’t actually experienced or seen firsthand.

This film sparked criticism even before being seen due to the fact that the women who appear in it are veiled. You have already made a statement about this, but can you talk to me about this choice?

Shortly after “Leila’s Brothers” came out, the Women, Life, Freedom revolt took place in Iran, a movement spearheaded by women, but that gradually came to involve society as a whole. And it’s a movement that, by the way, I’ve supported publicly. You can see that on my Instagram page, but also in terms of how I behave in society. One of the consequences of this movement is that it made people and the cinema industry much more sensitive about the whole matter of the mandatory headscarf in cinema. People were already sensitive about it and then it became even hotter as a topic.

I’ve been observed very closely ever since “Leila’s Brothers” came out. As you may know, I’ve had court proceedings. The film has been accused of being one of the reasons that sparked the movement. And I was given a suspended six month prison sentence and five-year work ban, which means that if I make the slightest faux pas, I go immediately to prison and I can’t make a film for five years.

Whereas I certainly don’t like showing women with headscarves in private spaces in Iran, I feel that there is much more attention focused on this at the moment and it was the only way I had to tell a story, considering the amount of surveillance. That, of course, involves everyone in Iranian cinema. All directors are being closely watched, but I’m under very close observation. To give you an example, during the shoot of “Woman and Child,” production was actually shut down by the regime several times and I was brought in for questioning.

Izadyar, the actress who plays the protagonist, gives a real tour-de-force performance. Talk to me about working with her on this film.

I had a great experience working with Parinaz. I was looking for an actress who would dedicate at least six months to non-stop rehearsals, who would have both that type of availability and also generosity. Perinaz devoted, if not an entire year, at least 10 months without taking on any other jobs just to rehearse and then interpret Mahnaz.

What was the rehearsal process like?

It was very intense. We rehearsed every day in my production studio, at least eight hours a day, often 10 or even 16. And what I really wanted was an actress who would transform into the character of Mahnaz. So by the end, Perinaz, the actress was no longer Perinoz. She was Mahnaz, even in her personal life, even in her family life. You could see that by the time we got to the shoot. Yes, of course, there was mise- en-scene work, there was prepping, there was all of that. But she was already under the skin of the character. The process was so intense for her that her hair gradually became gray as the shoot progressed. At the end of the shoot, she had so many natural grays that we had to dye those black for continuity reasons.

As I understand it, this film was shot with a permit, meaning that the screenplay was submitted for approval after your conviction and major opposition to your previous film. Can you talk to me about the process of getting it approved and getting it made?

Regarding the choice to ask for a film permit to start with, this was not my choice. It’s something that you have to do if you want to make a film on this scale. And I’d like to premise this by saying that if the situation were different in Iran, if we were in a country without a mandatory headscarf and without many other restrictions, I would’ve made the same film. Some of the details would have been different, maybe, in terms of what happens in private and certainly the women would be without the headscarf. But the story, the character journey and all of that would have been the same.

In terms of shooting a film that is set largely in a hospital, largely in exteriors, that includes scenes shot in a high-school and so on, there’s no way we could have made that without permits. And again, it was very difficult for me to get permits because I don’t have a good reputation with the regime officials. They view me very badly. However, I’m very popular among the wider audience.

And that’s another reason why it was very important to me to make a film with permits, because it’s the only way it can actually be screened in Iranian cinemas. And for me to show my films to Iranian audiences in Iranian cinemas is crucial. Especially because over the past few years, what you see in Iranian cinemas has really gone down the drain. There’s a series of comedies, which I’d rather not talk about. But in terms of social cinema, it has basically disappeared.

And then also lots of my cast and crew are people who are working in films made with permits. So if they were to come and work in a film without a permit, then they would be punished with the same work ban that I have been punished with, though the ban has been suspended. So it would cause lots of other problems.

Now, of course, there are filmmakers making underground films without permits in Iran, who I have enormous respect for. And not just filmmakers, also casts and crews. But I don’t see how I would have been able to make a film of this scale underground. I mean, it just would have been impossible.

Now that “Woman and Child” is completed, do you think it has good chances of playing in movie theaters in Iran?

It all depends on how we play it from now on. [Iranian authorities] have to see the completed film. It will be seen at Cannes, and it also depends on what I say, on how I give interviews. If I say anything too oppositional, the film will not pass muster.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.