Bomb: A Love Story

Directed by Payman Maadi, this 2018 Iranian film is set in 1988, in the final months of the Iran-Iraq war. Tehran is under constant bombardment and those who remain try to carry on between sirens. The narrative runs around a teacher and his wife whose marriage is collapsing. The film shows the war not at the front but inside an apartment. There are bombing sequences, but they are not central; the subject is how people keep their daily relationships going under these conditions. Teaching a class, arguing with neighbours and giving a child music lessons are all treated as equally important. Leila Hatami and Maadi play the couple. As a directing effort it is measured; it does not slide into melodrama and does not use the war as background. The period detail is careful. Who it's for: those who like Iranian cinema and films that tell war through civilian life. Who it's not for: viewers expecting combat; the film almost never shows the fighting.