Heaven, Hell, Purgatory

Bijan Mirbaqeri is one of those directors who has appeared promising to most critics because of two films he has produced thus far. His first film, We Are All Fine (2004), introduced a new narrative method to the Iranian cinema. The film was about a young man who had left his family for years and was living outside the country. Now he asked his family members to make a film of themselves and send it to him through one of his friends. Spectators never see the young man and never know whether the letter has been actually written by him or someone else (because his family has no access to him). However, the letter is used as an excuse to show us his family members’ reaction to him. Mirbaqeri’s second film, The Day Breaks (2007) was free adaptation of Death and the Maiden play by Ariel Dorfman. Roman Polanski also made a film according to the same play in 1990s. The latest film of Mirbaqeri, whose screenplay was completed a while ago, was a work in three episodes. Leading roles were played by famous Iranian actors. The first episode, Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, casts Ali Mosaffa and Mahtab Keramati; the second episode features Massoud Rayegan and Massoud Keramati; while in the third episode, leading roles have been played by Atila Pesiani and Parivash Nazariyeh. In the first episode, a man and wife meet after many years of separation. In the second episode, we see a man who remembers his old love after many years and the third episode is story of a woman who pursues her husband’s profession after his death. Other crewmembers include Morteza Poursamadi (director of photography), Farhad Vilakji (set designer), Keivan Jahanshahi (composer), Hossein Bashash (sound recordist), and Saeed Shahsavari (producer and editor).