Release CalendarTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersEmmysSTARmeter AwardsSan Diego Comic-ConNew York Comic-ConSundance Film FestivalToronto Int'l Film FestivalAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

The Salesman

Original title: Forushande
  • 20162016
  • PG-13PG-13
  • 2h 4m
IMDb RATING
7.7/10
60K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
8,256
201
Taraneh Alidoosti and Shahab Hosseini in The Salesman (2016)
Trailer for The Salesman
Play trailer2:19
4 Videos
99+ Photos
Drama
While Ranaa and Emad, a married couple, are participating in a production of "Death of a Salesman," she is assaulted in their new home, which leaves him determined to find the perpetrator ov... Read allWhile Ranaa and Emad, a married couple, are participating in a production of "Death of a Salesman," she is assaulted in their new home, which leaves him determined to find the perpetrator over his wife's traumatized objections.While Ranaa and Emad, a married couple, are participating in a production of "Death of a Salesman," she is assaulted in their new home, which leaves him determined to find the perpetrator over his wife's traumatized objections.
IMDb RATING
7.7/10
60K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
8,256
201
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Director
      • Asghar Farhadi
    • Writer
      • Asghar Farhadi
    • Stars
      • Shahab Hosseini
      • Taraneh Alidoosti
      • Babak Karimi
    Top credits
    • Director
      • Asghar Farhadi
    • Writer
      • Asghar Farhadi
    • Stars
      • Shahab Hosseini
      • Taraneh Alidoosti
      • Babak Karimi
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 123User reviews
    • 317Critic reviews
    • 85Metascore
    • Won 1 Oscar
      • 13 wins & 27 nominations total

    Videos4

    The Salesman
    Trailer 2:19
    The Salesman
    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:17
    Official Trailer
    The Salesman
    Clip 1:15
    The Salesman
    The Salesman
    Clip 1:18
    The Salesman

    Photos102

    Taraneh Alidoosti in The Salesman (2016)
    Taraneh Alidoosti at an event for The Salesman (2016)
    Taraneh Alidoosti in The Salesman (2016)
    Taraneh Alidoosti and Shahab Hosseini in The Salesman (2016)
    Taraneh Alidoosti and Shahab Hosseini in The Salesman (2016)
    Taraneh Alidoosti and Shahab Hosseini in The Salesman (2016)
    The Salesman (2016)
    Farid Sajjadi Hosseini, Shirin Aghakashi, and Mojtaba Pirzadeh in The Salesman (2016)
    Shahab Hosseini in The Salesman (2016)
    Shahab Hosseini and Maral Bani Adam in The Salesman (2016)
    Babak Karimi in The Salesman (2016)
    Taraneh Alidoosti and Shahab Hosseini in The Salesman (2016)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Shahab Hosseini
    Shahab Hosseini
    • Emad Etesami
    Taraneh Alidoosti
    Taraneh Alidoosti
    • Rana Etesami
    Babak Karimi
    Babak Karimi
    • Babak
    Maral Bani Adam
    Maral Bani Adam
    • Kati
    Mina Sadati
    Mina Sadati
    • Sanam
    Mojtaba Pirzadeh
    • Majid
    Sahra Asadollahi
    • Mojgan
    • (as Sahra Asadollahe)
    Mehdi Koushki
    Mehdi Koushki
    • Siavash
    Farid Sajjadi Hosseini
    • The man
    Ehteram Boroumand
    • Mrs. Shahnazari
    Emad Emami
    • Ali
    Shirin Aghakashi
    • Esmat
    Sam Valipour
    • Sadra
    Alireza Rofougaran
    Alireza Rofougaran
    • Mr. Alimoradi (Neighbor)
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Asghar Farhadi
    • Writer
      • Asghar Farhadi
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    More like this

    About Elly
    7.9
    About Elly
    A Separation
    8.3
    A Separation
    The Past
    7.7
    The Past
    Fireworks Wednesday
    7.7
    Fireworks Wednesday
    Life and a Day
    8.2
    Life and a Day
    A Hero
    7.5
    A Hero
    Just 6.5
    7.8
    Just 6.5
    The Lizard
    8.4
    The Lizard
    Beautiful City
    7.6
    Beautiful City
    The Warden
    7.4
    The Warden
    Sheeple
    7.6
    Sheeple
    Everybody Knows
    6.9
    Everybody Knows

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Farhadi was so taken by this project that he decided to stop his ongoing project in Spain with Penelope Cruz and return to Iran to shoot this movie in his home country.
    • Goofs
      Iranian actresses are not allowed to appear without hijab. And Iranian women don't wear hijab in their home. Farhadi always find a way to solve this problem, such as there always being a stranger in the house, but in the scene in which Rana is cleaning the house she is all alone and still wearing a hijab.
    • Quotes

      Student: How do people turn to cows?

      Emad: Gradually!

    • Connections
      Features The Cow (1969)
    • Soundtracks
      Solfege
      (uncredited)

      Written by Sattar Oraki

      Performed by Hana Kamkar, Emad Emami, Ali Baghfar, Maral Bani Adam, Mehdi Koushki and Payam Eghdami

    User reviews123

    Review
    Top review
    8/10
    8/10
    After having just moved into their new home Emad (Shahab Hosseini) and Rana (Taraneh Alidoosti), a couple of fellow actors find themselves in a difficult home life situation after a violation of their home. S they go through the performances at the local theater of Arthur Miller's 'Death of a Salesman' their relationship takes a left turn from which it might not ever go back.

    I tried to keep the synopsis as vague as possible so not to spoil the film, since, as in most of Farhadi's films, the inciting incident comes in later in the film and the drama ultimately does not develop until the third act, something that this director likes to do and at which he excels, always giving priority to the space in which characters develop and live their everyday lives.

    And those are exactly the reasons why "The Salesman" is a fantastically subtle and morally complex revenge tale masked as a home drama, which has some of the best work by actors I have seen in 2016, even though this might be too slightly of a familiar territory from Farhadi.

    It is no coincidence that Shahab Hosseini won the best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival, if there is one reason why this film succeeds it is him. This performance is raw and authentic in its own unique way, he manages to guide us through every one of the stages of degradation his character goes through and he manages to do so without us noticing. On a surface level the character arch he goes through would be hard to believe, there are some changes that wouldn't appear natural when spelled out. Yet, Hosseini manages to sell us on this person and all of the turbulence he has to go through, he manages to enhance little moments that I can't imagine working on paper. He fits right into the world that Farhadi builds and comes out giving a powerhouse of a performance that guides the audience through the whole narrative.

    Certainly, Farhadi deserves to share some of the credit for the performance too, for many reasons. Firstly, just as in all of his film, the performances across the board are just flawless, he directs actors to perfection and he doesn't even give you a chance to realize this. The way in which he uniquely manages to capture everyday life is profoundly stunning. From the camera-work to every detail of the blocking of actors right down to every word they say, the fabric of ordinariness he succeeds in putting on screen is flawless. I have no idea if this is all meticulously thought out or if it is left to brilliant improvisation and I don't want to know, what is clear to me is that as a director his methods work excellently and the results he manages to produce on screen are remarkable.

    Then, when it comes to building the drama, Farhadi is just as masterful. The evolution of it is natural and doesn't ever feel forced upon the characters, the parallels traced with theater might be a little too on the nose, but they are stunningly relevant and used to an incredible cinematic effect. He manages to build and build the drama and make it culminate in a riveting finale where all of the themes and the moral questions the film asks flow out naturally from it and leave you hanging at just the right moment. He also manages to build a complex web of visual cues and use them effectively to complement the characters and the story, once again here the visual parallels with the theater are a joy to see unfold.

    It has to be said that this is very familiar territory for Farhadi, the contrast of personal justice versus institutionalized justice is very relevant is his past film "A Separation" and so is the outlook on revenge, the degrading and the toll it takes on the individual and the destructive results of it. Sometimes it even feels like he is retracing his steps and for someone who has seen his film this might result in a slightly predictable outcome, even though the self contained drama in the film never looses its relevance to the characters, ultimately resulting in a constantly fascinating watch that challenges the viewer and defies traditional cinematic beats and expectations
    helpful•63
    17
    • James_De_Bello
    • Jan 5, 2017

    FAQ1

    • Which b&w movie was played in the classroom when Emad was fallen in sleep and photographed by his students?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • August 31, 2016 (Iran)
    • Countries of origin
      • Iran
      • France
    • Official sites
      • Official Site
      • Official site (Germany)
    • Languages
      • Persian
      • English
    • Also known as
      • El viajante
    • Filming locations
      • Tehran, Iran
    • Production companies
      • ARTE
      • Arte France Cinéma
      • Doha Film Institute
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $2,402,067
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $71,078
      • Jan 29, 2017
    • Gross worldwide
      • $6,953,604
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours 4 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • D-Cinema 48kHz 5.1
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

    Related news

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    Taraneh Alidoosti and Shahab Hosseini in The Salesman (2016)
    Top Gap
    What is the streaming release date of The Salesman (2016) in Australia?
    Answer
    • See more gaps
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    View list
    List
    New & Upcoming Superhero Movies and Series
    See the full list
    View list
    List
    Fall TV Guide: The Best Shows Coming This Year
    See the full list
    View image
    Photos
    These Stars Are on the Rise
    See the gallery

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Back to top
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more access
    Sign in for more access
    • Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • IMDb Developer
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Interest-Based Ads
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2022 by IMDb.com, Inc.