The Seed of the Sacred Fig Review: LFF 2024

Iranian thriller The Seed of the Sacred Fig tracks one families collapse under a theocratic regime

It would be impossible to talk about The Seed of the Sacred Fig without mentioning the extraordinary story and person behind it. Filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof wrote, produced and filmed this picture in Iran, in secret, after having previously been imprisoned for making films critical of the government. It was smuggled out of the country to be edited in Germany, and when it was selected to play in competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival Rasoulof was sentenced to eight years in prison. He managed to flee Iran on foot and is now living in exile, but a number of the cast and crew members remain trapped in Iran, banned from leaving. The Seed of the Sacred Fig tells a story that these filmmakers were desperate for people to see. It’s a story that needs to be told.

Iman (Missagh Zareh) is a judge in Iran’s Revolutionary Court. Charged with sentencing political dissidents and those who are believed to have broken Islamic law, he is devout man whose personal morals are challenged when his new bosses start to insist that he signs death sentences without even reading the case files. Iman is told that due to his job his family may be at risk of reprisals, and he is issued a gun to protect them with.

At home are his equally devout wife Najmeh (Soheila Golestani) and their two teenage daughters Rezvan (Mahsa Rostami) and Sana (Setareh Meleki.) Najmeh impresses on her daughters that due to their father’s new job they will need to behave as model citizens in public and encourages them to distance themselves from any friends who could be perceived as radical.

When a wave of protests sweeps across Iran following the murder of Mahsa Amini the two girls want to get involved, causing friction between them and their parents. Iman in particular is worried that the protestors are going to learn his name and hunt him down. As the situation in Iran escalates and political and personal tensions rise, Iman becomes convinced that his own family are turning against him, causing him to treat them like the very ‘criminals’ he interrogates.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig is a masterful thriller that will keep audiences enraptured despite it’s near 3 hour run time. Though the initial drama is by necessity small in scope, scenes inside the apartment are intercut with actual footage of the violent protests that were shared on social media. There is a propulsive sense of danger throughout, a reminder that though the family we are seeing may be fictional their world and the consequences of their actions are not.

Rasoulof crafts an uneasy sense of paranoia that pervades every frame. Making even the most mundane seeming conversations multilayered, it simmers along uneasily before bubbling over into an absolutely explosive final act. Though you may have your suspicions about who has done what, or who has betrayed who, there are twists and turns aplenty that keep the story turning in unexpected and exciting ways.

As The Seed of the Sacred Fig moves into it’s final violent act it wraps into a satisfyingly cinematic ending akin with any Hollywood thriller – even if it is at the cost of the realism it has maintained throughout the rest of its runtime. Though I did wish it had given its women more agency in their final scene, it certainly provides talking points that already have me wanting to watch it a second time (again, an incredible achievement for such a long film.)

Genuinely gripping, brilliantly acted and based on a central story that sent shockwaves around the world, The Seed of the Sacred Fig is an essential piece of modern Iranian cinema that easily has universal appeal.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig is playing as part of the BFI London Film Festival 2024. It is expected to be released in UK cinemas in late 2024