THE film The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Cert. 15) derives its title from a species of the fruit that entangles itself round another tree, thereby killing it. As such, it’s become a symbolic criticism of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The film bearing its name questions the notion of submission. Is it to the will of God, which is what Islam means, for this to include absolute surrender to whatever the state or your father decrees?
Iman (Missagh Zareh), is a devout and honest lawyer, recently promoted within the public-prosecutions service. His wife, Najmeh (Soheila Golestani), and adolescent daughters, Rezvan (Mahsa Rostami) and Sana (Setareh Maleki), need to be careful over where they go, and what they say, do, and wear. The risk, on the one hand, falling foul of the regime and, on the other, encountering vengeful relatives of those whom Iman has indicted. He implicitly believes that the law is the true embodiment of how Iran interprets the Shia branch of Muslim faith. His sole misgiving is the speed at which he is forced to investigate cases by superiors intent on rushed litigation and harsh sentencing.
His wife is utterly compliant, dutifully running the home and family life. The daughters are sceptical of Najmeh’s belief that this is the only role God ordains for women. Faith doesn’t question, she tells them, but the influence of social media on the younger generation tells a different story. Iman considers any libertarian views espoused online the work of Iran’s enemies. Only when Rezvan and her friend get caught up in “Down with theocracy” protests against covering their hair with hijabs do we see the full disparity between official news reporting and images captured on citizens’ phones.
Iman knows full well that he puts his family in danger by the work that he does, but he expects their submission. As a precaution, he has a firearm, a narrative device known as Chekhov’s gun: an object introduced into the plot which will subsequently have great significance. Iman’s professional credibility, which he equates with Muslim values, depends on preserving his reputation. He, therefore, psychologically bludgeons his family into safeguarding it, all along declaring that this is the will of God.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig challenges such beliefs. In the process, we witness a family being torn apart ostensibly in the name of God. Islam itself is not being faulted, but certain expositions of it, which strangle through male oppression God’s Tree of Life (sometimes called the Tree of Mercy) with its connotations of human flourishing. In the words of Louis MacNeice’s “Prayer Before Birth”, the film prays that the man who is beast or who thinks he is God doesn’t destroy us.
The writer-director Mohammad Rasoulof has made this film at great cost to himself. He had already served imprisonment for criticising the Iranian government. The film was made in secret and yet manages to retain the high production values of his previous films, such as There Is No Evil. This new film won the Cannes Film Festival’s Special Jury Prize as well as that of the Ecumenical Jury.