Review: The Day I Became a Woman (2001)

This is a Resurfaced review written in 2002 or earlier. For more information, please visit this link: Resurfaced Reviews.

The Day I Became a Woman

Rating

Director

Marzieh Makhmalbaf

Screenplay

Marzieh Makhmalbaf, Mohsen Makhmalbaf

Length

1h 18m

Starring

Fatemeh Cherag Akhar, Hassan Nebhan, Shahr Banou Sisizadeh, Ameneh Passand, Shabnam Tolouei, Sirous Kahvarinegad, Mahram Zeinal Zadeh, Norieh Mahigiran, Azizeh Sedighi, Badr Iravani

MPAA Rating

Not Rated

Buy/Rent Movie

Review

In every life there is story. Each story is different. There are stories that ask to be told; there are stories that need to be told; and there are stories that shouldn’t be told. “The Day I Became a Woman” is a story that asks to be told, but shouldn’t have been.

The film is a trilogy of works. The stories themselves follow a child, maiden and crone motif. The first story is of the child. Hava (Fatemeh Cherag Akhar) is turning nine and for her culture, the age is a right of passage from childhood to womanhood. Her grandmother (Ameneh Passand) forbids her to play with Hassan (Hassan Nebhan), a young boy from the neighborhood. She doesn’t know the difference between play and adulthood and is forced to give up her childhood to soon.

Born at noon, her grandmother agrees to allow her to go play until the shadow of a stick in the ground is gone when she must return home to begin her life as a woman. Her playtime is fraught with frivolous pursuits…a reckless abandonment of tradition…youth.

The next story is that of the maiden. Ahoo (Shabnam Toloui) is a young woman who rides bicycles. Her husband (Sirous Kahvarinegad) disagrees and arrives on horseback to demand she get off the bike and come home to be with him. He tries many time to force her home, but each time, she continues riding in a bicycle race with other women of her nationality. In defiance, she stays on the road, taking her own womanhood into her own hands, allowing herself to take responsibility for herself, even when her society is certain she’s wrong.

The final story is that of the crone, Hoora (Azizeh Sedighi), who has come to the big city to buy things she’s always dreamed of. With pieces of cloth tied around her fingers to help her remember what to buy, she is escorted by wheelchair around the city by a young boy (Badr Iravani). After a life being controlled and not being able to make her own decisions, Hoora takes back her feminine essence and lives life for herself.

“The Day I Became a Woman” could easily be the story of the same woman, even if they didn’t share a name. The problem is that it isn’t the same woman and it’s not the same story. Each makes the transformation into a woman on their days. While Hava’s story is quite literal, Ahoo and Hoora’s stories are quite figurative. The latter stories revolve around the women taking control of their own destiny, regardless of what may befall.

The story is interesting, when you look at its as a metaphor. The problem is that the film’s poor craftsmanship including horribly faux sound effects and uniform acting don’t lend themselves to the art form. Perhaps that helps the film reach a more sophisticated audience. It also benefits from being filmed in a foreign language.

All that aside, “The Day I Became a Woman” doesn’t really capture the imagination at the end. The film tries very hard to make a statement, but its inability to solidify the basic filmic elements make it weak and irresponsible, even if it is thought provoking.