Ten (2002)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Abbas Kiarostami

Writer:

Abbas Kiarostami (writer)

Release Date:

18 September 2002 (Belgium)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Ten sequences examine the emotional lives of women at significant junctures.

Plot Keywords:

Prayer | Mother Son Relationship | One Word Title | Iran | Sister Sister Relationship

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Mania Akbari	...	Driver
Amin Maher	...	Amin
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kamran Adl
Roya Arabshahi
Amene Moradi
Mandana Sharbaf
Katayoun Taleizadeh

Also Known As:

10 (International: English title) (alternative spelling)
Ten (France)
Untitled Abbas Kiarostami 2002 (France) (working title)

Runtime:

France:91 min (Cannes Film Festival) | Germany:94 min | UK:92 min | USA:94 min | Portugal:90 min | Argentina:94 min

Country:

France | Iran | USA

Language:

Persian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

Switzerland:12 (canton of Zurich) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:I | Sweden:Btl | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12

Filming Locations:

Tehran, Iran

Company:

Abbas Kiarostami Productions

Trivia:

Chosen by "Les Cahiers du cinéma" (France) as one of the 10 best pictures of 2002 (#01, with "Choses secrètes")

Quotes:

Prostitute: [to a Married woman] You are wholesailers. We are retailers.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in 10 on Ten (2004)

Soundtrack:

Walking In The Air

A Wonderful Film............

I have seen many impressive Iranian films over the years. "Ten" may be the very best of them for a variety of reasons. I think the film is remarkable because it looks so simple, but I imagine setting up the camera and capturing the realistic dialogue and plot-line we see in the film had to have taken a lot of preparation. I also think the director deliberately chose scenery to accommodate the backdrop of the film, and he must have driven around Teheran constantly to figure out which images to put in the background. I think the scenes with the murals of new arch-conservative president are very telling. "Ten" seems to have a lot of messages under the radar, including the subversive powers of all governments (certainly including our own in America) to censor art. I think the relationship between the mother and her son is a very poignant one, and it shows how children and adults simply live in different spheres of the universe. Film is strikingly similar in some aspects to American independent filmmaker Rob Nilsson's film "Signal 7" which came out over 20 years ago.