Under the Skin of the City

Under the Skin of the City
Directed by	Rakhshan Bani-E'temad
Written by	Rakhshan Bani-E'temad
Produced by	Rakhshan Bani-E'temad
Starring	Golab Adineh Mohammad Reza Forutan
Cinematography	Hossein Jafarian
Release date	4 February 2001 (2001-02-04)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	Iran
Language	Persian

Under the Skin of the City (Persian: زیر پوست شهر, Zir-e poost-e shahr), also released as Under the City's Skin, is a 2001 Iranian drama film directed by Rakhshan Bani-E'temad. It was entered into the 23rd Moscow International Film Festival where it won the Special Golden St. George.

Adapted from this movie, another short film called "Zir Posht Shahr Tehran", directed by Abolfazl Amiri, was made in 2022 Iranian Date 1400 2.

Plot

Tooba, a working-class woman, who leads life of poverty, likes to live in the same house as her husband Mahmoud and her eldest son Abbas. His younger son, Ali, who teaches his mother literacy, in the midst of the sixth House of Representatives elections, is interested in his country's political issues and is involved in campaigning and from time to time his foot is dragged to the police station.

Abbas, who dreams of traveling to Japan and works in a cloths workshop, closes her heart to the love of a girl, the older daughter of the family who is pregnant, returns to her mother's house after being beaten by her husband with her little girl, but later she returns to her home through Tooba. Abbas and his father, in tooba's absence, give the deed’s house to the "architect" who is the buyer of the house. While Maryam, Tooba's neighbor and colleague at the factory, is preparing to celebrate her eldest daughter Somaya's wedding, her little girl, Masoumeh, run from home because she was beating by her brother after being late. Mahboubeh, Tooba's little girl who is friend with Masoumeh, visits her in Mellat Park, but she is arrested by the police and taken to the police station.

Webby, who wants to pawn the deed’house for her daughter's release at the police station, realizes that the deed is not at home. They bring the girl home. The visa office is fake and Abbas comes to being involved with the drugs trafficking. He goes to Orumieh, where Ali, suspected of his sudden decision, secretly rides in the back of his pickup truck and discovers that he is going to deliver the clothes among which the drugs are embedded.

Ali spills out the clothes, and Abbas beats him severely after finding his brother in the back of the van, but then they come back together. Tooba goes to his hideout to visit Abbas. Abbas' boss follows him, but he runs away with his mother's help. In the end, Tooba speaks in front of the TV camera on Election Day, telling them that it is better to shoot a video from inside of her heart.

Cast

• Golab Adineh as Tooba
• Mohammad Reza Forutan as Abbas
• Baran Kosari as Mahboubeh
• Ebrahin Sheibani as Ali
• Mohsen Ghazi Moradi as Mahmoud the Father
• Mehraveh Sharifinia as Masoumeh
• Homeira Riazi as Hamideh
• Alireza Oosivand as Nasser Khan
• Mehrdad Falahatger as Marandi
• Nazanin Farahani as Nahid

External links

• Under the Skin of the City at IMDb
• Under the Skin of the Tehran City at IMDb