The Apple (1998)

After twelve years of imprisonment by their own parents, two sisters are finally released by social workers to face the outside world for the first time.

Director:

Samira Makhmalbaf

Writers:

Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Samira Makhmalbaf (as Samireh Makhmalbaf)

Stars:

Massoumeh Naderi, Zahra Naderi, Ghorban Ali Naderi

7 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Massoumeh Naderi	...	Massoumeh
Zahra Naderi	...	Zahra
Ghorban Ali Naderi	...	Father
Azizeh Mohamadi	...	Azizeh
Zahra Saghrisaz

Storyline

After twelve years of imprisonment by their own parents, two sisters are finally released by social workers to face the outside world for the first time.

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Plot Keywords:

family drama | docudrama | contemporary | feminist film | real twins playing twins | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Iran France

Language:

Persian

Release Date:

19 February 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Apple

Filming Locations:

Iran

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$15,207, 21 February 1999, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$116,758, 27 June 1999

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hubert Bals Fund, MK2 Productions, Makhmalbaf Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Samira Makhmalbaf makes her directorial debut at the tender age of just 17. She is not however the youngest director on record - that accolade belongs to Sydney Ling who was just 13 when he made Lex, the Wonder Dog (1973).

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Connections

Featured in Cinema Iran (2005)

User Reviews

Two girls locked in home for eleven years finally get a chance to go out and play.

Like many recent films from Iran this one has a simple plot line, light humor, and a humanitarian streak that is rarely seen in American films. Yet it too has a resonance due to its use of metaphor and to a rather complex theme. The film starts with concerned neighbors signing a petition for social workers to investigate a home where their blind mother and out-of-work father have locked up two girls for eleven years. Social workers "rescue" the (now slightly autistic) girls then give them back to their parents. What follows is an initiation period in which a social worker and the father have a seriocomic encounter in which he gets a kind of comeuppance and the girls go out into the neighborhood and begin to make friends despite their lack of social skills. What's most harrowing about the film is that it's based on a real life event and the principal characters play themselves. What's more it's directed by an 18 year-old Iranian woman. Highly recommended.