The Patience Stone

A man lies in a room. A bullet went into his neck and he is in a coma. His wife looks after him; she changes the drip, puts drops in his eyes, prays. There is fighting outside and the rest of the family has gone. She has no money, two children, and no help from anyone. One day she starts talking. Everyday things at first. Then she describes her marriage, then what her family did to her, then the things that have never been said. Whether he hears is unknown. There is a legend: there is a stone you tell everything to, and one day the stone cracks. Atiq Rahimi directs; he wrote the screenplay with Jean-Claude Carrière. Golshifteh Farahani plays the woman; Hamid Djavadan and Hassina Burgan are in the cast. It is a French, German and Afghan co-production. The source is Rahimi's own novel, which won the Goncourt prize in France; the author adapted it for his own film. Part of it was shot in Morocco. The matter it treats is not being able to speak; the woman can only tell it when the person across from her cannot answer. The narrative takes place in one location and is built almost entirely in a single room. Golshifteh Farahani carries the film alone; most of the narrative is her speech. The film caused controversy in Iran and elsewhere; the actor has been unable to return to her country because of this and similar work. The narrative keeps the war in the background; the real event is inside the room. Its limit is form; the narrative is like theatre, the pace slow, and the ending hard. Who it is for: viewers who like literary adaptations and narratives built on one character. Who it is not for: it is slow, closed, and the ending shattering.