Gabbeh (1996)

Wonderful character development!

Don't listen to the negative reviews

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

The movie Gabbeh is an Iranian film directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf features a mythical young woman longing to be married to the horseback stranger from another clan. Gabbeh is a magical, colorful love story filmed in Iran with the dialect spoken in their native tongue. There are subtitle in the film but the dialog is kept to minimum. The young woman, Gabbeh, is played by Shaghayeh Djodat. However she is not permitted to marry him until her uncle played by Abbas Sayah marries before she does. This mythical young woman appears when an elderly couple goes through their routine of cleaning their gabbeh, while squabbling gently with each other. Magically the young woman appears and helps them to clean the rug. This young woman belongs to the clan whose history is depicted in the design of the gabbeh, and the rug recounts the story of the courtship of the young woman by a stranger from the clan. The girl's story is almost like a fairytale but in actuality encompasses the old woman's real-life struggle with daily life and accomplishing her aspiration of matrimony. Makhmalbaf's uses this film to show his impassioned analysis of poverty, the oppressiveness of tradition or the loneliness of women in a patriarchal society in Iran. He hides his analysis by the usage of color which is prevalent throughout the whole movie. The vibrant colors that the women wear in the movie are a source of solidarity for women and give them an outlet to express themselves in the patriarchal society. This passionate love story offers a glimpse into a society that as Westerners we know little about and have many misconceptions about. This Iranian film is the 1st I have seen from the region and has definitely spurred my interest in seeing more films from this director.

Gabbeh is unique because it is only the second Iranian film distributed around the United States. The definition of an actual gabbeh is an Iranian carpet that is produced by women. It is similar to American quilts. They are usually full of color and sometimes tell stories. This quality is what this movie plays off of. The beginning of the film shows an elderly couple at a stream washing their rug. There is a couple sewed on it, and they begin discussing the story behind it. The woman from the rug comes to life. It takes the viewer a second to realize what had happened, because there are no special effects or special camera angles used to make this clear. The fact that only one face at a time is shown, and when the camera back up, only the elderly woman is shown what seems like talking to herself. Another thing that gives that she is not real is that fact that she is wearing the same shawl as the elderly woman, and her name is Gabbeh, the name of the carpet. She begins to tell the old woman her tragic story, which all ties in with the overwhelming theme of color. She wants to marry her lover who stays on horseback and is never shown up close. She can not do this until her uncle gets married and several other stipulations have been met. Color is used as a rebellious symbol because it usually is not allowed or considered appropriate for bright and rich colors to be worn by women of that time, but in this film, every woman is a multitude of colors, fabrics, and even dangling tokens coming off of their dresses and shawls.

Mystic Iranian pic is at once a treat and an elusive puzzle. Just what writer/director Makhmalbaf was trying to say here is a complete mystery to me, such is his intricate use of symbolism and suggestion. Perhaps this is a reflection of age old Iranian culture, but it is a culture I have precious little understanding of.Our director has woven a tale as tightly as the Gabbehs the film seems to be about. Occassinally fascination draws you in, but mostly one is left admiring the scenery and the unusual style.Cameraman Mahmoud Kalri captures the attention, and Hossein Maharami's turn as a lovelorn old man is a most amusing one.Monday, June 1, 1998 - Hoyts Croydon

I saw this film several years ago when it was first released in the United States and have waited anxiously ever since for it to be released on DVD. The beauty of costume and scenery is enthralling but no less captivating is the love story surrounded by the cultural strictures which have a mythic overlay. Although half my family is Iranian, like most Iranian films, I think it requires more than one viewing to follow and absorb the story line but is well worth the effort. It is a romantic film in the true sense of the word, leaving one with a sense of completion and fulfillment. It is a film for those who have patience and love art and enjoy being swept into another world.