Gaav (1969)

Director:

Dariush Mehrjui

Writers:

Dariush Mehrjui (writer)
Gholam-Hossein Saedi (play)

Release Date:

December 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Masht Hassan owns the only cow in a remote and desolate village. He treats the cow as his own child...

Plot Keywords:

Based On Play

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Ezzatolah Entezami	...	Masht Hassan
Ali Nassirian	...	Islam
Jamshid Mashayekhi	...	Abbas
Khosrow Shojazadeh	...	Boy
Jafar Vali	...	Kadkhoda
Ezatallah Ramezanifar
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Firouz Behjat-Mohamadi
Mahmoud Dowlatabadi
Parviz Fanizadeh
Esmat Safavi
Mahin Shahabi

Also Known As:

The Cow

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

Iran

Language:

Persian

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | UK:PG

Company:

Iranian Ministry of Culture

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Nassereddin Shah, Actor-e Cinema (1992)

Interesting yet moribund study of human relationships

This simple tale is open to interpretation, which can be considered positively or otherwise – it perhaps hearkens back to folk tales which are passed down orally, and contain simple plots which are then the basis of discussion. In this way it is easily remembered and its meanings can be deciphered afterwards by those who watch it. However it also means that the film seems overlong for the most part, pre-occupied with repeating sequences and behaviour again and again, and even drawing out the fairly dramatic ending which arguably diminishes its strength. Perhaps it would have been better presented in a shorter runtime, or a more heavily stylised manner such as that of the title sequence. Nevertheless, regardless of enjoyment there are many threads of discussion that can be considered.

One of the key questions raised by the film is that of the mental stability of the protagonist, Hassan, whose loss of his animal will bring about his somewhat metamorphosis into the same creature. At the start of the film he is seen behaving extremely strangely as he leads his cow back to town, exultantly dancing around it as he washes and caresses it. This man is not behaving as the other people (such as the children) do. Hassan is mirrored somewhat by the town idiot, who is berated by the other people, and even locked up so as to keep Hassan himself from learning the secret of his cow's death. This mirroring, and Hassan's transformation, make it possible to consider the village's relationship to both Hassan and his cow – certainly throughout neither are treated with respect, and the film's end highlights this.

Perhaps Mehrjui, the film's creator, comments on the actual importance of the cow and this man's relationship, an idea that is supported by the title of the piece.