The film begins at the birth of a baby girl to the daughter of a woman who realizes that this will be cause for divorce - her daughter's in-laws were expecting a boy. From that point, the camera follows several other women (played by actresses U.S. audiences have never heard of) around the streets of an ostensibly Iranian city, one's story leading into that of the next. Each is trying to do something without the permission or accompaniment of a man or the proper identification papers, such as journey to another city, have an abortion, or travel alone at night by taxi. This makes them outcasts furtively slinking about their business, subject to arrest and imprisonment. Even chewing gum or smoking in public is cause for rebuke by the authorities. Their plight is contrasted with the relative freedom of the males in their society. For these women, there's no joy, or laughter, or any facet of what would otherwise be considered a normal life outside of the Third World. The message is clear - life is wretched for the unmarried and unsupervised woman.

There's no nudity, profanity or violence in THE CIRCLE. Yet, as I understand it, the film was banned in Iran. It's a bleak presentation, and, I'm afraid, perhaps boring if you're not being shown something you don't already know. But, if you're so inclined out of curiosity about the world around you, give it a look, and then give thanks for your great good fortune for living in the West - especially if you're a feminist.

The stories that haunt us
Review date: 2003-04-17 Rating: 10 out of 10

A dramatic and often painful portrayal of the existence of women in modern day Iran. A well crafted film with excellent script and cast. It leaves the viewer with the question, do men really treat women this way? The day will come when men will have to pay for this.

Living in the shadows
Review date: 2002-06-23 Rating: 8 out of 10

The Circle is an interesting and extremely elusive film. It follows a number of different women who have been punished by the state for crimes of immorality. Intitially the personal stories of these women appear to be unrelated but as the film unfolds we see how they are all entagled in a very large web. Although the film is dealing with the issue of sexual inequality in a particular society and the price they pay for any form of deviance it is also concerned with individual courage and the resistance against conformity. The women are portrayed through strong characters, making immense sacrifices when necessary, such as abandoning a child to give her a better life.
It is unclear in the film what the 'crimes' of some of the characters are, there is a suggestion of prostitution in some of the cases.
What is fascinating is the external uniformity, all the women cover themselves with black shawls and lose themselves in a mass of black anonimity, these same women crouch behind cars to have a quick cigarette. It leaves you wondering how easy it can be to fall into a state correctional facility and what lies underneath the Black cover.

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