If you give an answer to your viewer, your film will simply finish in the movie theatre. But when you pose questions, your film actually begins after people watch it. In fact, your film will continue inside the viewer.
Interpretation
Engaging films leave viewers with questions that stimulate thought and discussion long after they've watched.
Asghar Farhadi's quote emphasizes the impact of storytelling in cinema, suggesting that the true essence of a film lies not in providing clear answers but in posing thought-provoking questions. This allows viewers to engage with the narrative on a deeper level, fostering continuous reflection and conversation beyond the viewing experience, effectively extending the life of the film within the minds of the audience.
In practice
During a film discussion session, you might say, 'As Asghar Farhadi notes, asking questions is fundamental to how films resonate with audiences.'
I tend to jot down moments, lines, interactions that don't really make any sense. I try and explain these scattered notes to my close friends, and they become more and more logical. I see screenwriting as a bit like a math equation which I have to solve.
It's been interesting to see how similar audiences in the East and West are, actually, and how it makes you realize that when politicians emphasize the differences between our cultures, it's usually because it benefits them more so than us.
I must say here in France I had more serenity or security as I was working because I knew I was making the film the way I wished and that the film would be seen, ultimately, which is not always the case in Iran. In Iran, you always work having in mind this worry of will I be able to carry on my project as I wish and will the audience see the film.
I think it's insulting to an audience to make them sit and watch a film and then give them a message in one sentence.
I always feel that a viewer has an expectation about every moment of the film and where it's going, so if I act against that, I've created a twist. In fact, it becomes a kind of game with the expectations of the viewer. This is the superficial appearance. In the layer beneath, there is a hidden theme.
You must know that Iran has a great number of productions. Many films are released. Most of them, like in the rest of the world, are commercial and shallow films. These are the most popular ones. And there are a few ones that actually develop more profound and thoughtful aspects of life. Only some of these films travel out of Iran.
Whenever I become discouraged (which is on alternate Tuesdays, between three and four) I lift my spirits by remembering: The artists are on our side! I mean those poets and painters, singers and musicians, novelists and playwrights who speak to the world in a way that is impervious to assault because they wage the battle for justice in a sphere which is unreachable by the dullness of ordinary political discourse.
I'd rather make a show 100 people need to see, than a show that 1000 people want to see.
In my experience, when you're writing, you want the truth, and you don't want to be apologetic in any way. But there is something in writing, the complexity of it, that works against that aim.
Football is the last sacred ritual of our time.
The critic who doesn't make a personal statement, in remeasurements he himself has made, is merely an unreliable critic. He is not a measurer but a repeater of other men's results. KRINO, to pick out for oneself, to choose. That's what the word means.
Those people who recognise that imagination is reality's master, we call sages, and those who act upon it, we call artists.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.