All language subtitles for Madar 1991

In the Name of Allah

Hedayat Film Presents

Mother

An Ali Hatami Film

Roqieh Chehreh Azad

Farimah Farjami
Mohammad Ali Keshavarz

Aakbar Abdi
Amin Tarokh

Hamid Jebeli
Jamshid Hashempour

Hamideh Kheyreh Abadi
Hossein Kasbian

Akram Mohammadi
Mahboubeh Bayat

Make up: Abdollah Eskandari

Photographer : Aziz Saadati

Sound: Roubik Mansouri

Editor: Hassan Hassandoust

Music: Arsalan Kamgar

Production Manager: Younes Sabahi

Cinematographer: Mahmoud Kalari

Producer: Hedayat Cultural
& Artistic Institution

( PRAYING)

Writer & Director: Ali Hatami

Get up. It's Monday, visiting day.
Also the day to water the flowers.

Here you go.
Ali, Ali.

Don't forget to buy me some snack.
- Alright. Okay.

Watch your hand, Mahmoud.
- We are here, grandpa.

Do not go home wearing smock. If sawdust permeate through
the carpet, it'd be hell of a job cleaning it up.

Sit here.

Here are the keys to the front door , room and refrigirator
Grandpa. Please don't let them make a mess.

Rest assured, dearest. When you return,
your house will be spick and span

This is widower's destiny. Transforming
himself from father-in-law to mother-in-law.

Mummy, chewing gum.
- Ask your grandpa.

Keep my share of yoghourt soup for me.
An artist makes it differently

All my housewifely skills are limited to cooking
broth in winter and yoghourt soup in summer.

Do something for Mahmud's Monday luncheon.
Whatever I cook, he'll eat at the sandwich shop.

Don't give him any money.
- I don't like yoghourt soup.

I won't eat lunch.
- Don't.

When he is hungry, he'll even eat a stone,
let alone yoghourt soup.

Haven't you finished this set yet?
Are you carving marbles?

This is not yoghourt soup. When it's
finished, you'll say it was worth all the troubles

Master Mehdi acknowledges
the alder more than me.

He loves wood like a termite. You are
Lucky your rival is wood, and infertile.

Otherwise we'd have a dozen
Pinocchios of varying ages and heights.

And the saw I used to work with has converted to a knife.
I fell washed-out...

I wish one of your carved
picture frames were my work...

...then I wouldn't mind peeling
potatoes for the rest of my life.

Let me remind you again. Don't set foot on the
house, while you are covered up with sawdust.

Hello?
- Brother? I'm with mother now.

At nursing home. Rearrange your schedule
So you'd be at mother's place before noon.

Mother is not feeling well.
And I am all by myself.

I've checked her out. We need
a car to bring her stuff back.

She wants us to
take her back home.

I am all welled-up
Brother.

I never thought this day would come.
Do whatever you have to do to be here.

I will

I have bought fruit,
bread and meat.

All we do is fill and refill the fridge.

Have schnitzel for dinner.

Dr Azadi's secretary is going
to the beach for a week.

Don't use too much oil.
just enough to make it oily.

From tomorrow I'll be going to the
doctor's office in the afternoons.

Don't dirty all the dishes for a schnitzel.
Detergent is scarce.

I got one month's worth of her salary for a
week's work while she's on leave of absence.

A new novel again?

You never told me how the previous
Novel you were reading ended

Something is wrong with the front wheel
of the car. The one to the driver's seat.

Tomorrow is Tuesday and the
charwoman comes to clean.

If I am late, tell her
to do the laundry first.

Aunt Nafiseh called. She wanted
to know what happened to the loan.

She's called 3 times this week. Tell her in one word
whether she can get a loan on the apartment or not

Guess who I saw?

Fereshteh Nbati. She had brought
her husband for physiotherapy.

She's now married to a building contractor, I don't know
what she has done to him. He couldn't move a muscle.

He introduced himself as a civil engineer,
And that he owned a construction company.

To me, he was a
building contractor.

Jalal! How many times should I ask you
not to help me with the housework?

You have left the top of the
sugar holder almost open again.

Now ants are on parade everywhere,
Mr Maurice Meterling.

Hello?
- Hello, brother.

So, it's Monday again and
a call from my little sister.

This Monday is different.
- It's the series last episode tonight, isn't it?

Hold on a second,
sis.

The idiot German
hung up on me.

Go on.

I've kept the line too long, bro. you go home
with our baby brother. We'll bring mother .

Our sister's also on her way from the Caspian.
- These traditions are obsolete, baby sister.

Who has taken a dying person home?
She could expire there, and Auf wieder sehen.

This is mother's request.

She doesn't want to die a lonely person in the
nursing home as her roommate did.

Tal'at called. Apparently mother
is not well, I have dressed up.

I may have to spend the night at mother's
Didn't have time to listen to your tape.

If you need anything, call
Mehdi's shop, he'll let me know.

Come on in.

Sit down, Fatso.

Only God Almighty is immortal.

Paradise lies beneath mothers' feet.

This is to announce the death of
the daughter of the late Mostofi...

Pillar of knowledge, and the wife
of the late Captain Gholi Khan Naseri ...

...and the honorable
mother of Ebrahim khan ...

Don't play around.
Eat it up.

Hello? It is mom!
- May I speak with grandpa, Ali?

Hello, father.

Go on, girl.
- Mahmud had a sandwich, mon.

I don't want Mehdi and the kids to know.

Mother is not well and
she has asked to be taken home.

Don't worry.
- I'm worried about you.

Don't be, Do what you
have to do, Bye, girl.

The Association of the
Gut-Exporters of Iran.

Fatso, here comes your clan.

Are you well, Khodadad? Thank God.
- Fine.

Easy.

Mother seems up and about.

It looks like a paradise here.

All it needed was Mother
to fill this place up with her scent.

Easy!

Oh, I adore you.

Tal'at!

Mother seems up and about to me.
Your sweet crackbrained brother is here as well.

He is a mess! Everything goes
to him who doesn't want him.

Take it easy, brother.
cool it...

Worse comes to worse. And
your wisecracking is getting worse.

I'll be damned if I am to wisecrack my big
brother, I'll shut up, and say another word.

Okay, don't try to be sweeter than
sugar plum, Go mind your business.

Whatever you say
brother.

So your brother, Mr Ebrahim Khan,
the gut - spinner, is here as well.

We're all supposed to be here together.
This is mother's request during her last days.

Last days?
- Yes, brother.

Hey, sugarplum! While I'm here, nobody is to spend
a penny, particularly this softy brother of ours.

The good-for-nothing meat
is the cheapest of kind

I've left a bunch of notes here. Take the
money, buy, cook and eat until you burst.

Only mind your crackbrained brother. He's
never full, he might eat himself to death.

Try this very cup of tea with sugar.
Forget about your diet today.

The tea you used to brewed on a
charcoal samovar tasted different.

The tea is not freshly-brewed
with electric samovars.

This weaker tea is for our softy colorful brother?

The best of everything for our big brother.

Don't be silly.
Get lost.

The Tea taken without
Sugar is not bad at all.

It's bitter.
- You can't sweeten bitterness with sugar.

You have to illuminate
the night without a lamp.

It's bitter.

My Monir is here!
My sweet pea!

Monir is here!
Monir is here!

Monir is here!
Monir is here!

Now your crackbrained son is welcoming
his cutie-pie sister. Ms. Sweet pea.

Hey dumb-head, you
keep your mouth shut

A finch lays seven eggs, and one turns out a nightingale
All my mother's eggs turned out nightingales

What a crappy lot!

Thanks to our uncle's genes, I became a
gut-spinner, and can take care of myself.

Otherwise, I too would have been a
good-for-nothing like the crappy lot here.

Out of the way.

I'm amazed why you even bothered this
cadaverously ill sister of ours to come over.

She'd be taken into hospital, if they are
to catch a glimpse of her on the streets.

Oh, mother!

Oh, mother!

Oh, Monir!
My sweet pea!

Zinat has pomegranates.

Pomegranates fall from heaven.
- Zinat...

Red ones.

Zinat has pomegranates...

The green one.

Who is this?

Who are you?

Here you go.

A game!
- Gholamreza, come, let's play together.

Here I come. Run. I am
coming to catch you.

Catch me if you can.
Come on. Catch me.

L...l...
Wait, Oh...

I felt dizzy.
My pill.

Come here, Khodadad! Get the key
from my pocket and open the door.

Thanks, man.
So long.

That's enough, son.
He's exhausted.

Fatso has taken a tenner to
massage his big brother's feet.

It is not even a half time yet.
All right.

For your sake,
call it quits.

Hey, son! Gholam Reza! Give it a break!
You'll be sick to your stomach!

Eat some burned sugar, so you
won't have an upset stomach.

This lot is really something.

Jalal, come here.
and join the lot.

Don't avoid us, son.
For seperation is at hand.

Thank God I am not like them.
Thanks to my late uncle's foresight...

...I am tough and thick- skinned.
That's for sure. Nothing bothers me.

I might as well go this far to eat mellon and
honey mixed, without having upset stomach at all.

Monir, vinegar doesn't go well
with you. Drink some oxymel.

A mixture of yoghourt, fish, mellon and
honey would be my season salad.

Mother!

Vinegar is not good for you either.
- Why the hell are you depriving her?

Her sun is setting.
She's at the point of death.

She has her foot in the grave.
Her batteries will be dead soon.

Let her enjoy life in
these last minutes.

Mother's condition is similar to that
of extra time in a final soccer match.

Penalty kick is the final
solution to her situation.

Let's say some people such as mother
have as their engine that of Rolls-Royce's.

Suppose they have not put the pedal
to metal as in the course of a lifetime.

Penalty kick appears to be the final solution.
Since they have "nuke" as their magnetto.

So sudden as a firm kick would score
a goal, they might just kick the bucket.

(IMITATING A COMMENTATOR
REPORTING A SOCCER MATCH)

You didn't treat your
brothers and sisters well.

I think I'd better leave you all.
- A mother will always forgive.

But beware of the Judgment Day
and the spite of the oppressed.

The spite of the oppressed!

My God have mercy on you!

Okay don't curse me
so from up there.

All I have to do is to attend
your funeral ceremony

I can even send my blessing from here.
May God bless her soul!

Fetch my bloody jacket, Tal'at.
I am going back to my bloody life.

I am fed up with some people here.
- Okay

While the big brother is finishing his tea,
the baby sister will bring his jacket

It was ripped in the armpit.
I had to mend it.

If a butcher's knife tears my stomach
My wife won't touch a needle and thread.

But, she buys all kinds of fashion
journals to make dresses for her cubs.

Don't spread your dirt on the floor, you idiot.
You have infested our life with your germs.

The damn thing is cleaning it out.

Do you expect us to frame
you and put you on the wall?

He smells like shit, yet he
sits princely by the windowsill.

A fistful of water
will clean a dirty body.

It is dirty heart that won't be cleaned by a sea.
- Hey, softy.

Tell your lady doctor to save a pack of DDT for
your brother, whose wavy hair is a commune of lice.

Tomorrow I'll take him to the bath.
and will wash the body of this pure soul.

No hot water, no hot water, please
I'll burn, oh my head!

Come and let me wash you.
Shut up or I'll belt you proper.

This kind soul needs
caressing, not belting.

Then you better come and catch this lice
and collect them till you have a football team.

Tal'at, where is my bloody jacket?
- Here it is. I'm bringing it over.

May you bring the
news of my death.

Give it to me.

These feet used to have a covering.

I have washed your socks. they're still wet.
- Give them to me.

Maby I'll catch heart rheumatism
and I will be freed from you lot.

May that day never come.
- Well, it has, sister.

It's better to die naked than to be in this
funeral parlour, and listen to this nonsense.

One is born naked and die naked.
The lighter the better.

This world is like the sea
and our life is a ship on it.

Water in a ship is its hazard.

A mariner without clothes has a better
chance than a passenger with luggage.

Then you come and do it.
Mr Water Polo. Tarzan! Plato!

Here, come on and start your concert,
you Vienna Symphony Orchestra.

There's always room
for a wayfarer.

Instead of slapping him,
you could wash his face.

You listen to me, Mr Smarty Pants. My wife told
me either I stay here or this Gorilla the Grape.

So I submitted him to the
madhouse. Yeah, I did.

I couldn't take care of him like a baby
with a silver spoon in his mouth.

Now that I have said it, you all know
it. I have nothing to hide anymore.

Here I had a shitty life in this world, and I
will be damned in the hereafter. So I lost it all.

It is my father. Only he comes through
this door with boots, sword and cane.

He has aged so
much he has died.

Late Captain Naseri's residence?

Welcome home,
son.

Thanks.

This young mariner is a souvenir
of your father's days in exile.

As much as your father suffered in exile, the
son benefited from the freedom and the sea.

After your father refused to give the order
to shoot in the Gowharshad Mosque...

...nearly forty years ago, unlike
these warm nights of the summer...

...in the dead of the winter, one night
they brought him home to take a bath.

Tal'at and Jalal
were not born yet.

Ebrahim was fourteen or so,
and Gholam Reza was five or six

Monir had just started to talk.

There are vacant rooms downstairs
You may find some bread and sheets.

No strangers should be allowed
here, as it the night of the lovers.

I will spend the night with my family. I'll be
back here early in the morning to pick you up.

I wish your night lasts forever.

Thank God my picture is
still on the wall of the house.

To the end of the world, your picture will be on the wall
and your name on the door and your love in our hearts.

I ruined this house.

As long as I am on my feet,
these walls dare not fall.

Sarah will hold this
rain-sodden roof like a pillar.

Do not mind the leaky floor,
and these copper tubs.

They are called "Winter Basins "

Don't you regret my going on that mission?

No
- You accept my disobedience?

Yes

At last, all the people who took
sanctuary in that mosque were killed

Somebody else ordered the shooting
not my noble husband.

That means I sold this world
for the sake of a future gain.

No

Even in lock and chain,
you are still a captain.

You used to have a position.
Now you have a name.

They only took a few starts off your shoulders.
Your stars are now on your forehead.

How are the kids doing?

Mischief!
Naughtiness!

And the little girl is talking sweetly.

The boys should grow
to become real men.

Let them enjoy their childhood.

This is like an egg yolk.

We had everything at home,
but I didn't want to prepare a feast.

I wanted you to know what the kids eat.

Boiled potatoes every night?

One night with the mint,
and the other with marjoram.

It is not monotonous this way.

Once you have wonderful wife, no
matter how poor you are, you feel rich.

A loving wife doesn't need
to do so much shopping.

Thanks to her abilities the kitchen is
always running and the table is always set.

I've promised myself not to ask for
anybody's help until your term is finished

Everybody is willing to help. My brother , Your
relatives. Even the neighboring shopkeepers.

Even the grocer sent a message for
me to go and get whatever I needed.

Said he has an account
with you. I didn't accept it.

With the wheel of this sewing machine.
I'll move the wheel of life.

It is surprising that I have not been
executed. There is hope for exile.

Wherever you go, I'll take the kids
under my wings and fly to you.

Securing a house will be difficult. You
may have to stay in a boarding house.

Next to you, Captain Naseri
wherever we are is home.

Of course, if you are the housewife.

You didn't trust me?
did you?

The aim of a prisoner is to escape
and the duty of a guard is to watch out.

You spent a difficult night.

Given the joy of a heart-broken
family, it was worth my while.

Father was exiled.

The kids and I stayed in that town so
that father would not feel homesick.

The sky of that port blazed like fire.

The price of our togetherness
would be the life of my child.

And saving the child would cause
my husband's

At my request, the homeless man
remarried, with a native girl...

the fruit of which is this stepbrother.

The fruit of which is this stepbrother.

If you have doubts
in accepting me...

have no doubts in
accepting these gifts.

A gift is not valued
by the price it holds.

Some tokens for what I
imagined you would be

from what your
mother has told me.

A lighter for the biggest brother.

The perfume for my biggest sister.

This game for the second brother.

The tape recorder for
the youngest brother.

The scarf for the youngest sister.

And this fabric for my dear mother.

Hello to this day.

Now I am too old for such things.

Hey, Fatso!
Towels!

The towel should be next to the
wash-basin, you dummy. Quick.

Let the old woman die first,
then fight over her inheritance.

Where is this towel? Should I come
and use your curtains as towel. Quick.

Give it to me.

Take this pail and empty it in the toilet. Watch out not
to spill, othenuise I'll pour it down on your head.

Don't spill either or else I'll make
you like it. You fat stinking dummy.

You worthless piece of shit.

Look how thick his neck is!

You stink like shit.
Get up.

Some people so sentimental.

His hair is good enough to
make a whisk broom out of it.

First, we go to the barbershop,
then toward the bathhouse.

Go mind your own business.

Gholam Reza! Go bathe yourself,
so you'd be polite and educated!

Ali, if I ask you something,
will you tell me the truth?

Honestly?
- Honestly.

Don't you miss your mother?
- So what?

To go and see her? Also you've got a new
uncle who has brought you lots of gifts.

What about you?

You are a kid and more emotional.

I know what you are up to.
You miss her more.

I'll help you out to go to the grandma's
place for you to see mom, if you want.

But first you must take me
to a football game...

...then to an amusement park

Then buy me snack. I'm not finished yet.
- Alright.

Then buy me a coke,
and chewing gum.

You are so dirty I have
to shake you first.

Gholam Reza! Once you get back,
we'll play hide- and-seek.

Having taken a bath,
come here as quick.

Get back here as soon as you can for us to play
hide-and-seek together. Don't forget, all right?

Good morning, Captain.
- Good morning, Carpenter.

Gholam Reza! I am tired of waiting
for you here. Come already.

Master Mahdi,
come inside.

Hello.
- Hello to you.

Your brother sent me to fetch
clean clothes for Gholam Reza.

Why don't you come in?

Another time, Your brothers
are waiting at the bathhouse.

Also, the kids are alone at home.

Go get Gholam Reza's clothes.
Tal'at.

Nothing.

No

Polish them.
Yeah, right.

Won't you come for a short while?
- What?

The kids miss you?
- The kids?

The kids are happier with your father.

I miss you, too.

You just saw me.
- The house misses you, too.

Oh, my onions are burning.

Move it.

Let me take you and clean you.

You stink like skunk, you poor
miserable devil. Where to?

You won't go to the
bathhouse in peace, will you?

You stink like shit, dummy!

No way!
- Come on! Maybe I should beat you to it!

Move it!
You worthless piece of shit!

Get up.
- Oh, no.

Get up, you idiot.
Move it.

Move your butt.
- Oh, no.

How many years since you last
washed? Bring me four bars of soap.

The water is damn too hot. I'm not coming.
- Get your hands off the doorway.

Gholam Reza,
come on up, son.

Good morning.

Not so much dust, as much as I've been
to the bath. I'm all wet. I'll get muddy.

Wait.
Let me see you.

You look so clean,
like a flower.

I was a flower. I went into water,
and now I am rose water.

Come let mother have a good
look to see how clean you look.

Oh, I adore you ,touch wood.

May God break his hand. Who
has made you so black and blue?

I did, and got him
cleaned, too.

Didn't know I would be
cursed instead of praised.

He wouldn't go under the
shower, so socked it to him.

No, he didn't beat me.
I fell down.

I slipped over the soap, and hit the
water tap with my eye. I swear to God.

Hey, bor. We'll take the injured planes to
your wife's hospital, so she can operate on them...

...and send them up again
to fly and raid each other.

Mahin works at a maternity hospital.
- They'll let me in.

My tummy is so big,
they'll let me in.

We'll take the big planes
to give birth to twin helicopters.

Put this ice under
your eyes, to cool it.

Ice is not ointment.
It will burn me.

Ice is for eating.

As much as it'll cool your liver.

Take this material to tuba,
your wife.

I won't last to wear a new veil.

My wife indeed!
The queen of cruelty!

As if I am the invisible man,
she never sees me.

Tuba!

What a daughter-in-law you have, mother.
The Queen of cruelty.

If only you knew my suffering.
- So all your wisecracking is for us then.

Oh, mother!

Gut-spinning business doesn't bring
enough for this bunch of free loaders.

I have to do all kinds of things.

Mind if I join you?

I can't sleep tonight.

You are sleepless. You are
the light of this dark night.

Mother hadn't told you all the secrets of
this family. You know all of them yourself.

I gave each of my
daughters an apartment as dowry.

They have left their apartments
to come live with their mother.

Tuba was a good wife,
sympathetic.

At least my grandchildren...

...if see to theirjunk food,
accept me as their grandfather.

She was sympathetic, but as soon as
I bought her a house, she changed.

She's such a loose tongue.

You know what she calls me?
Buffalo.

You call your sisters and
brothers all kinds of names.

This is God's hand.
Come to your senses.

Everything will be
retributed in this world.

I labored for them so much
that I became a buffalo.

This princess Anne goes to sauna
and massage parlors to slim down.

Then all she fed me was fat
and junk till I became a barrel.

That witch only takes
grapefruit juice and leek.

Why bitterness among brothers?

At the end of his life, my uncle accepted my
brother as a partner in his gut-spinning company...

...which exported to Germany.

And my brother went to Germany, so much he
studied, to become a doctor and treat me and Monir.

For Monir to get fat and chubby,
and kn me to become skinny.

I represented the company and
my salary sufficed my studies.

Then uncle dropped dead.
May God bless his soul.

My brother gave me the sack, and with
a few words of Germany that he learned...

...he continued his dealings with
foreign companies on his own.

It is funny.

A bit to your left.

Don't move.

A bit to your right.

A bit to your left.

A bit closer.

Take each other's hands.

More friendly.

You are looking good now

Your clothes are good now

Now only prepare dinner , tea and coffee

Grandpa, look at daddy.

How it is that you're overjoyed?
- Well he's coming from grandma's.

He's in ajovial mood.
- Well, he's finally seen mom.

To get a glimpse of your mother,
he has become Superman.

You could have taken us with you.
It wouldn't hurt you or anything.

Well, he didn't.
- Come on, Get up.

Oh, look!
It's uncle's Mercedes!

No time for small talk.
- Don't raise your voice at him.

Hello.
- Hello to you.

Hello? Tuba,
is that you?

Well, well, well!
Mr, Ebrahim, the mother lover!

It's good to be alive and see
that you attend to your relatives.

That Jalal and his midwife wife, and your mad
brother and crazy sisters are all the same.

You fit the lot perfectly. All for that
ruin of a house of your mother's.

Don't worry. She will not kick the
bucket until she attends all our funerals.

Some women luck out. Their husbands
die on time, so the wives can relax a while.

Banoo's husband, may God
bless him, had a stroke at forty.

He left her a fortune...

...to spend time in Europe,
and be tickled to death.

Moradkhan, Vajiheh's husband,
who could be your son...

...died of leukemia,
quick and easy.

Now any boutique owners and
jewelers in Tehran is at her disposal.

Rafieh is better off
than everybody.

Her husband builds roads in Baluchestan,
and she's enjoying herself at beaches of Nice.

These are real men.

To cut the long story short, the
son-in-laws go after their father-in-law.

Your son-in-laws
are worse than you.

Giving hell to your daughters.

I am not in the mood
to take care of their widows

I am constantly babysitting for them while
they are at the hair dresser's or fortuneteller's

I wanted you to know I am leaving with Farideh and
Mahmud for Dubai, or Turkey along with Mohajeri.

Don't need more than one grand. We'll
take plastic sandals and bring back jeans.

Either you come along or drop dead.
That would be all.

In case I'd drop dead...

...where would you get the
easy dollars? Selfish bitch.

Hello?

May speak with Mrs. Zarbafian.
maternity ward.

So you are staying on, a family reunion.
You made peace with the enemy.

If you wanted a family life, why didn't
you stay with them in the fist place...

...and I'd have a normal life all through the
day, and went to the clinic in the afternoon...

...instead of being an all-night nurse.

You'd have to wait for 6 months to get an appointment
from Giti's clinic. She who dropped behind her studies.

And now I am a nurse.

All the lazy girls at the university
went after rich husbands.

Then I who was pretty and intelligent, and
wanted to be an intellectual married you.

Thanks to their husbands' money, they
are specialists, and university professors...

...and I have to be a night nurse.

Mrs Zarbafian to the operating room!
- They're paging me to the operating room!

Be patient. I'll leave the car
keys with Master Mehdi.

There're lost of empty tapes.
Fill them up.

Was the course straightforward?
- I made the cabinets in this ward.

The job was thanks to the
contractor, Mr, Nourani.

Jalal always praises your craft. Every time
he has bought way too many books...

...he says one of these days, Master

Mehdi is going to make a bookshelf.

I don't feel like working.

Come, let us examine you.
It could be a uric acid.

No, since Tal'at is gone.
I feel depressed.

She was next to me,
and I couldn't see her.

She was, so much as the eyelid, close
to me. Buy I didn't feel her presence.

We were never together.

He was at the bank in the morning and afternoons,
and I worked at the hospital on the shifts...

...to save up for a bigger apartment,
with a separate room for a baby.

Now there is the room,
but no mood for a baby.

When I heard him on the tape, I didn't feel the
separation, now the silence indicates his absence.

I have brought his car.

Without the passenger.

A penny for your thought.

Mother being secretive, and
the wisdom of this stepbrother.

And all the gifts, it feels like
father has brought souvenirs.

I secretly took mother's photo album from the
storeroom. She'll skin me alive, if she finds out.

She really knows
how to keep things.

I wish she could preserve us
like these pictures in the album.

Whatever you pick up from the storeroom
it seems like as good as new.

I wish we were still young.

You became detached
from your villa quite hard.

Now it's even harder to
detach from this place.

Haji Zavieh. Mother
talks very nicely of him.

Who caused their separation?

I did. The woman who should have
been left a spinster, and not a spouse.

Zavieh was a bazaar merchant. The word
is that half of Tehran belonged to his father.

A merchant, but a big
spender and hospitable.

My husband's family and I ...

all we did was partying around

going shopping from materials,
tailoring clothes, and jewels.

We had guests every day.

Mother says you had maids,
servants, gardeners, and cooks.

I was no housewife.

I said that I don't feel like
socializing with your family.

He forbade them from coming.

We were left with the servants.

How nice!
How romantic!

A house like a hotel!
A life like a journey!

A journey from purgatory to hell.

Mother says you wanted every night
to end in a fight on non-speaking terms.

The moment he came home,
my marriage duties would start.

Time of break porcelains and crystals. Zavieh
was filled with experience and patience.

He was young but not educated.

I begged him to remarry.

Didn't accept.

He was in love.

He was more concerned with
my health than his well-being.

Mother says he paid all the alimony
besides leaving you the house and all.

He wanted the house with me in it.
- We thought your quarrel was on going abroad.

Oh, that was an excuse.

After the divorce, he found me the best.
sanatorium in Europe and paid for everything.

So that's how the doctor appeared.

The hospital director was an Iranian
doctor, a fellow-countryman.

A respectable protector. A peaceful
shadow over a troubled soul.

He had wisdom and love combined.

He aimed for a total cure.

Mother says despite his desire to come
back, he stayed abroad for good.

With pregnancy, my
restlessness started.

I couldn't bear another
person within me.

With all that delusion, doubt
and compulsiveness...

Somebody breathed along with me.
- A child is a part of your body, not another person.

I feared this unknown creature.

Another being within me.

So I had an abortion.

Zavieh became homeless

The doctor remained in exile.

Father...

My unfortunate illness caused
our parents' separation.

Father died a lonely man.

All the men in my life were so gentle. Only
my unlucky star brought them misfortune.

Please take one.
Khodadad.

Please.
For me.

I'm putting it here.

I will close it.

Hello!
- Hello on your face, the gentle son-in-law.

Well, well. well. Here comes our
groom who is nicely groomed.

Have bought some ice cream. For
Gholam Reza.

So we're brickwall here, mister?

No, sir God forbids. There's plenty.
- Oh, ice creams!

As much as his wife is pregnant, he has
brought her ice cream to cool off her baby.

Please! Help yourself!
There is ice cream for everyone.

Hello, mother.
- Please do come in. Don't stand at the door.

I won't disturb a family reunion.
I'd better leave now.

Tal'at
Tal'at

Smells like your rice is burning.
Go and see to it.

I have some new orders!
A layette!

I have to make it ready before the baby is born.

Yeah, right. You'd better see to your work.

A man and his work.
- I wish you quick recovery.

Close the door.
- Go on.

You didn't treat him well.

Let's say he come to get a glimpse
of his wife. He has a right to her.

In my own house, I am henpecked, and here
I have to let our son-in-law boss me around?

She is my youngest sister.
I can beat her up.

The fact that I am a gentleman and do not
lift my hand against her is another matter.

Don't invite more than fifty people.

The evening you come back from
cemetery, give a dinner and that's it.

The money for the other ceremonies
should be given to the nursery home.

As for my shroud. Aziz has
brought me from Karbala.

One important request is about location of the
grave. I don't want it to be on some remote row.

Find one near a stream or under a tree.
- It's not time for leaving, mother.

We have just gotten together.
- You look much better than yesterday.

Watch your tongue, cutie-pie! Touch
wood, these evil eyes can hurt bad.

Love defies evil. Today
mother has the look of a lover.

She hopes to join Him tonight.

And more, this is the dinner for
her wedding, not for her grieving.

Mother wants to get married.
only lovers marry, you know.

He is saying an apt remark.
This is a reunion.

I am to meet Him tonight.
I want nothing left for tomorrow.

We'll saute the meat, the onion,
and the potatoes today.

It wouldn't go bad for tomorrow.

I just want the rice and the stew
to be cooked tomorrow,

They have brought
the sheep to sacrifice.

Get up, bro. Let me wash
your face with cold water.

Your eyes are all welled-up from the onions'
smell. Then we'll play hide-and-seek.

I will hide. Let's see if you
can find your big brother.

Come here, dear.
- Thanks.

Come, sweet pie!
come, sugar!

There two tasks to be done here.
A sailor is a jack of all trades.

All you need to do is say the word, if you find
me capable of that task. I am all ears and eyes.

Your words are sweet as dates. Help break the
lumps of sugar, for you become as sweet as sugar.

This is the lady's oblation?
Thank God she's recovered.

No, Habib.

It is for the funeral dinner. Mother has
even provided the meal for her death.

The ceremony of our
mother's dying is some story.

What a story!
With God

Do not cry at the dinner.
Do not embarrass people.

We have a big samovar, enough cups and saucers.
Do not go round and borrow from the neighbors.

Make it respectable. Not with
wastefulness, but with manners.

It is the pleasantness of the host that adds
to the dinner table, not the variety of food.

See to it that your mother's
womanhood is respected.

Do not mince the meat too small.

They may say what their stew only
has is split pea and fried onions.

Let them talk, then
I will sock it to them.

The only thing left is the Halvah, which is
the bereaved's treat to the funeral attendees.

This, the only sweetness of the death funeral,
bears its scent and taste from people's blessings.

We have good oil in
the house. Saffron, too.

But the degree of oiliness and
sweatness is not criterion here.

A Halvah well-done is the respect paid
by the bereaved to the loved one.

In return, people will say their
blessings to the deceased.

I am only worried about the flour.
lam not sure if it is stale or not.

I'll get you the best in town.
The very best.

I'll cook you the Halvah. so yummy
that you have never tasted.

Where are you going?

What is up?
Where is Golam Reza?

He is sulking, he won't come up.
He has Monir dictate a story to him.

I am off to buy the flour. Fresh flour.
To Mash Bagher's. I'll be back in a bit.

And I have to call my office for the employees not
to get paid overdue, as it is the end of the month.

I am just accompanying them.

The liar's eyes betray him.

But when a child lies,
the mother believes it.

Go find your brother.
May God be with you.

Where is my lost lamb?

The time for sacrifice is at hand.
the sacrifice is happy waiting.

O, Gholam Reza,
my innocent lamb!

Did you get the flour, son?
Did you call your office?

Did you have a good time accompanying
them? Why are you back empty-handed?

Why are you silent,
looking down at your feet?

Look me in the eyes, and tell me
what has happened to Gholam Reza?

Gholam Reza is hot.
He is short of breath.

He is thirsty.

Do you know where he is?

Yes.

I am my father!
I am captain!

Capitan Gholikhan Naseri!

I am imprisoned.
lam in prison.

How many times should I tell
you not to come and visit me?

I do not want the officers to feast
their eyes on my wife and kids.

I'll come home myself.
With taking-a-bath excuse.

They're taking me to Bandar
Abbas, the far-off land.

Into the mouth of a dragon!
A fire-throwing dragon!

If the port is a sea of fire and shore
is the coast of snow, I won't set foot on it.

Father! Monir is not the cause of
your seperation from mother anymore?

I am not afraid of hot water anymore.
I'd put my head under the samovar's faucet.

Even if my eyes
become infectious again...

I'd rather be blind than see
a father die of loneliness.

Oh, father!

Oh my estranged father!
- No, my girl! My little girl!

You are sweet.
You are fragile.

You are a fragile kiddie!
Oh, girl! You will be wasted!

You are a snowball!
You will be melted away!

I'll take you to the port.

Daddy, when shall we get to Tehran?
- Are you tired?

I am thirsty!
- We'll be there in a blink of an eye!

I am scared of the road. Mother is waiting.
- I've learned driving from the Germans.

I am not a good-for-nothing
driver, like the drivers in the war!

I am hot!

The air is filled with flies!
- Buzz off, you stinking buzzing flies!

Here comes Capitain Naseri!

When we get to the neighborhood.
I'll run and knock on the door.

No, my sweetie. It's dark in
the alley. You'll be scared.

If you are at the foot of the
alley, I won't be scared.

I want to call out "Mother" "Mother"!
I've brought daddy out of exile.

What if I won't make it to Tehran?
What if they bring my coffin instead?

Where is your grave?
They never showed us.

Don't you and Ghoam Reza come to the grave.
Send them to a movie to laugh themselves silly.

As much as crying is bad for them,
it would make them sick at heart.

Tell Ebrahim to take care of you all.
- Okay.

Jalal is an angel. Shower Monir with kisses.
Give Gholam Reza a big bear-hug.

I'll braid Tal'at's hair.
- Yes, do that. And tie them with red ribbons.

Do that. Tie them
with red ribbons.

Monir!
- Gholam Reza!

Monir!
Gholam Reza!

Do leave some food for Gholam Reza.
He might wake up hungry.

Fill up the water jug for Jalal.
Put an ashtray for Ebrahim.

Watch out for Monir not to forget to take
her pills, so she wouldn't be sleepless.

See what your new
brother needs, provide it.

Go to bed early, so you'd
get up early in the morning.

You have a lot to do tomorrow.

Hello to you.

Tal'at, go sort things out.
Prepare the beds.

Sorry for my bad timing.

They had brought some watermelon from the farm.
The watermelon is cool, and it is so hot.

I thought I'd bring you some.
- You did well, dear. Come and have a bite.

Thanks. I have
already eaten. Here.

It's not much of a dinner. And you
are not a stranger. you aren't strenger

Thank you. I've had my dinner. the
kids get sleepy, so we eat rather early.

Master Mehdi! Possibly the kids
will wake up and ask for you.

My father is with them,
nevertheless, you're right.

When their mother is not there,
my absence will upset them.

He has come to see Tal'at and enjoy her.
He has brought watermellon.

Did we come knocking your door to see her,
as much as she was at your place?

We'll return her when we're pleased. Let her baby
be born, get chubby, then she would come home.

You dummy!
- Master Mehdi, I beg you to for forgive me.

All you have done were good deeds.
May you live a long life.

Auf Wiedersehen. And
close the door behind you.

Good night.
- So long.

Good bye.

Time to see me off.
The train has not arrived yet.

But blessed is the caravan
that travels at night.

Arriving at its destination
early in the morning.

What a pleasure!

Like the morning prayer.

Hope for a new day. I said
I'll travel with the night train.

I can hear the bells toll.
The loud call.

Now the call of the caravan.
It is moving forward.

Oh, mother!
The light! The light!

Stand right there, mother. I am coming.
- Don't be scared, brother.

Mother...

...almond.
...alom...

...has...
...has...

Mother...
- Mother...

Mo...

...ther...
- Mother...

...has...
-...has...

...pain_
. ...pain_

...pain.
- Mother...

Mother...
- Mother...

Mother is...

alive.

Mother...
...died...

...as much as she isn't alive.