Cinema
Gabbeh
گبه
Mohsen Makhmalbaf · 1996
Synopsis
By a stream, an old nomad couple wash their carpet, a gabbeh in which a man and a woman riding away on horseback are woven. From the carpet emerges a young woman named Gabbeh, who tells her story: she loves a mysterious horseman who follows her tribe from afar, season after season, and sings for her at nightfall, but her family keeps putting off the marriage. Her story is interwoven with that of her uncle, who has come back from the city to look for a wife.
Context
The film was originally meant to be a documentary on the Qashqai nomads and the carpets they weave; fiction took its place during shooting. Co-produced with France, it was photographed by Mahmoud Kalari, with music by Hossein Alizadeh and non-professional performers. Presented at Cannes in the Un certain regard section in May 1996, it was banned shortly afterwards in Iran as subversive.
Who it is for
A film in Persian of about seventy-five minutes, in vivid colours. It is necessary to know that the story is slight, that the tale takes precedence over plausibility, and that time in it does not follow a simple order.
Prizes and reception
Prize for best artistic contribution at Tokyo and for direction at Sitges in 1996, and one of its director's most noticed films abroad.