The Road to Modern Drama + Screentalk
Barbican Cinema: Women and Ibsen: The Road to Modern Drama + Screentalk
Women and Ibsen: The Road to Modern Drama + Screentalk (15*) 14:00 / An afternoon of films, debate and commentary exploring Ibsen’s work 12 November 2006 Cinema 3
Tickets: £11 full price/£9.50 concs/£5 students subject to availability
Henrik Ibsen remains the most performed playwright in the world after Shakespeare.
The effect of key women on Ibsen, and Ibsen’s continuing influence on women around the world is crucial to understanding how this happened.
For the first time anywhere on a British screen we have two invaluable clues: Suzannah directed by Oscar-nominee Berit Nesheim; and Sara (???) adapted from A Doll’s House by award winning director Dariush Mehrjui.
These two remarkable films are followed by a forty-five minute ScreenTalk looking at key women who influenced Ibsen’s road to modern drama (including Suzannah, his wife of forty-eight years) and Ibsen’s continued impact upon women around the world.
Panelists include broadcaster and Guardian theatre critic Michael Billington, the director of Suzannah Berit Nesheim, Islamic Law professor Haleh Afshar and actress Janet Suzman. The panel will be chaired by Sunday Express theatre critic Mark Shenton.
2.00pm Sara (???) (15)
The British premiere of a highly effective Iranian transportation of Ibsen’s groundbreaking challenge to male chauvinism A Doll’s House, directed and adapted by Dariush Mehrjui.
Dariush Mehrjui won the Golden Seashell at the San Sebastien International Film Festival for his direction of Sara and Niki Karimi Best Actress for her performance in the title role. The same year, Sara won the Audience Award at the Nantes Three Continents Festival.
Sara ‘the perfect young housewife’ voices the grievances of most women in patriarchal societies. She is victimized, first by her father and then by her husband. Both treat her as less than human.
However when husband Hessam requires an expensive emergency operation abroad it is she who gets the funds. For the next three years, it is Sara, working secretly, who pays the shady loan and saves Hessam’s manly pride.
Until the truth is revealed and with it, the reality of her marriage.
Making his first film in 1965 Dariush Mehrjui became a prominent filmmaker of Iranian ‘new wave’ in the early ’70s. Though sometimes mentioned as the third in the triumvirate of great modern Iranian directors that includes Abbas Kiarostami and Moshen Makhmalbaf he predates and influences both.
In the 1990’s Mehrjui earned raves and accolades for films focusing on women and their interior world but sadly excepting festivals his films remain largely unseen outside Iran.
Iran 1993 Dir. Dariush Mehrjui 102 min. English subtitles
4.00pm Suzannah (15*)
The UK premiere of Jon Fosse’s beautifully photographed ‘TV-triptych’ of the woman who knew Ibsen best and influenced many of his creations - his wife, Suzannah.
Directed by Oscar-nominee Berit Nesheim, the young, the middle aged and the older Suzannah reflect on a life with the man who changed theatre and influenced the growth of feminism.
Jon Fosse is the most important theatrical voice to come out of Norway since Ibsen. He is Norway’s pre-emininent contemporary playwright translated into 40 languages and performed all over the world.
Norway 2003 Dir. Berit Nesheim 53 min. English subtitles
Presented in association with Ibsen UK 2006, Barbican Cinema, NRK (the Norwegian National Broadcaster), the Norwegian Embassy, Ibsen-eret 2006 and the Norwegian Film Institute
