The Symphony (2023 film)

The Symphony
سمفونی Samfoni
Directed by	Samir Ershadi
Written by	Peyman Farhadi Samir Ershadi
Screenplay by	Abubakr Hussein
Based on	Warehouse of Shattered Dreams by Afsaneh Khorsadi
Starring	Sareh Asgar Azar Safiyari Mahrdad Husseinzadeh Samira Barmada Ali Ayad Jean-Pierre Betancourt
Cinematography	Muhammad Zafiri
Edited by	Abdul Fattah Bashar
Music by	Sattar Amiri
Production company	Azadi Studios
Distributed by	Azadi Studios
Release dates	10 October, 2023 (Montecara) 18 October, 2023 (Worldwide)
Running time	166 minutes
Country	Zorasan
Languages	Pasdani Rahelian Estmerish Gaullican
Budget	€17 milliion

The Symphony (Pasdani: سمفونی; Samfoni) is a 2023 pyschological drama film directed by Samir Ershadi and produced by the Werania-based Azadi Studios. The film is based upon the 2016 international best selling novel Warehouse of Shattered Dreams by Afsaneh Khorsadi and stars Sareh Asgar as the main character, alongside Azar Safiyari and Mahrdad Husseinzadeh. The screenplay was produced by award-winning Abubakr Hussein and the musical score was developed and recorded by Sattar Amiri. The film follows Shirin, a young and talented cellist through her ordeal as she is arrested and tested by AKHID, the Zorasani military secret police. The film is to premier at the 84th Montecara Film Festival on 10 October 2023, with the public release scheduled for 18 October.

Plot

The film begins with Shirin (Asgar) saying over a blank screen, “not all symphonies are of the instrument kind.”

In 2018, within a middle-class district of Zahedan, Shirin is seen playing the cello to an open-air amphitheatre before an enraptured and enthralled audience, delivering her a standing ovation. Backstage, she is praised and warmly embraced by her mother Taraneh (Safiyari), who then hands her phone showing her father by video-call, who warmly congratulates her on her talent. Mother and daughter proceed home and, in the car, Taraneh informs Shirin that Karim, a life-long family friend and love interest was present, though to Shirin’s ambivalence, reminding her mother that Karim is surrounded by rumours. The following morning, Shirin is pleasantly surprised to see her act well reviewed in the Zahedan city newspaper, Taraneh joins her daughter in celebrating, before telling her that Abbas, Shirin’s tutor and de-facto agent had called saying that her performance was also witnessed by spotters from the National Conservatory for Music, the most prestigious music school in Zorasan.

Shirin is later congratulated by colleagues at the pharmacological firm she works at. One friend, Sabina laments for Shirin that she did not study music when younger, instead studying biochemistry. Sometime later she is called into a meeting with the firm manager, who to her surprise also congratulates her and jokingly asks Shirin to dedicate her first official performance to the company.

Several days pass and Shirin meets with Abbas, who happily informs her that the National Conservatory has officially invited Shirin for a review with the potential of a senior scholarship. She immediately accepts the invitation, and that night enjoys a lavish dinner with Taraneh. At dinner, Taraneh reveals to Shirin her own dream of wanting to become a professional dancer, but was denied at the time owing to demands of the State and hopes that Shirin will succeed where she failed.

Over the course of several weeks, Shirin practices tirelessly to perfect her Cellist skills, listening to various Euclean classical performances and struggles with work owing to late nights and early rises.

One day at work Shirin participates with colleagues in the mandatory In-Work Front Committee, with the company visited by a National Renovation Front cadre. He extols the virtues of “tireless work, endless toil and patriotic labour” praising the workers for their “contributions to national rejuvenation” before excoriating Shirin directly for “pursuing interests detrimental to the work of economic growth.” He berates her for her musical pursuits, asking rhetorically how her cello will build factories, homes or empower the nation.

Rankled, Shirin retaliates attacking the Cadre for the State’s lack of culture, ignorance and cruelty toward creativity, stunning her colleagues. Her boss excoriates her and condemns her for not committing to the company like her colleagues, saying she missed her chance to be musical when she chose pharmacology as a career. He then proceeds to fire her there on the spot. She stands and walks out, in an emotional state walking home she bumps into Karim in the street, who provides her comfort and is overjoyed at the Conservatory scholarship. Once home, she informs her mother that she has been fired, to which Taraneh laughs and proclaims her daughter free to pursue her music. Her father now home, promises to support her no matter what.

On the day before her review, Shirin’s practice is interrupted by the pro-regime rally taking place outside her home on the public square and calls Karim, requesting she use his apartment to practice to which he agrees. Arriving she remarks on all the plug sockets and light fixtures being torn out, to which he dismisses as an attempt at re-wiring. After practicing, Karim remarks on her talent and beauty and the two kiss, before Shirin departs.

The next day, Shirin’s review is a resounding success with the Conservatory offering her a senior scholarship with the potential of joining the national orchestra. She immediately accepts and after calling her mother returns home to a lavish dinner with her parents. She informs Karim who then invites her to a party to celebrate with her.

The two travelto an industrial district of Zahedan and find a disused warehouse playing banned Euclean pop songs, same-sex couples dancing and kissing, as well as partygoers throwing darts at portraits of regime officials and senior military figures. Shirin and Karim dance the night away. Several weeks into her scholarship, Shirin meets Paul Fladrin, a Gaullican musical PhD studying traditional Pardarian music for the film industry. The two quickly enter a romantic, albeit secret relationship. One night, during a dinner in an upmarket Zahedan restaurant, Shirin informs Paul that she has been appointed to play a solo section at a classical event in Mina al-Majid, the two celebrate and end the night in his hotel room.

The following day, Shirin informs her parents of Mina al-Majid and they again host a celebration, with Taraneh tearfully saying her daughter had succeeded where she failed. That night, Shirin’s sleep is disrupted by the sound of shouting in her kitchen and smashing. As she opens the door to investigate, three masked men break in and grab her, placing a black sack over her head. The screams of her father and sobbing mother disorientate Shirin who is taken to a van on the street and driven away.

Shirin is dragged from the van through a concrete corridor, screams and crying echoing around her. She is thrown into a room with only a small chair present and locked away. Distraught, she breaks down to the sounds of screaming, boots on concrete, crying and loud thuds on the walls and ceiling.

The next morning she is awoken by cold freezing water thrown over her, she is violently dragged to another room where her make up is harshly rubbed from her face and her hair is shaven. Returned to her room she is joined by a uniformed AKHID officer, who demands she apologise. Her reply of ignorance results in her being punched to the face, landing on the concrete floor, the officer then proceeds to take a gulp of water from a bottle before spitting the water over Shirin and leaves. The same night, Shirin struggles to sleep over the cacophony of torture and anguish reverberating throughout the building. She is awoken from what little sleep she had by bucket of urine. Again, visited by the officer who demands an apology, again denied through ignorance and again Shirin is struck in the face. The night she suffers the same audible horror.

The third morning she is awoken by a bucket of urine once again, but this time the officer is joined by two others. As he demands an apology for her actions, her ignorance is followed by both officers beating her with canes. The officer leaves but not before leaving Shirin a small bottle of water and a lump of mouldy flatbread for food. That night, unable to sleep due to the sounds around her, Shirin discovers a crack in the wall, leading through to the next cell. She meets Fatimah, another prisoner, who was detained for teaching Rahelian Zorasani children the history of Rahelia in an illegal underground school. Fatimah reveals to Shirin that by the door is the dead body of her husband, left there by AKHID for the past four days. The two over the night soon become dependent on one another for strength, though despite Fatimah’s efforts, Shirin fails to understand why she was detained.

The next morning, Shirin is taken to bloodstained room with only a pommel horse present. The officer and two others join her. She is immediately grabbed and placed over the pommel horse, her dirty trousers torn off and her lower half stripped. The officer again demands an apology, which Shirin replies by asking what for. The officer gestures the others over to her, with one holding her down and the other beginning to unbuckle his trousers. Shirin now distraught, pleads to the officer who simply observes while drinking tea. The half-dressed officer approaches her and as he was about to attack her, the officer stops him and dismisses them. Approaching Shirin, the AKHID officer asks whether she is truly ignorant of her crime, to which the now emotionally broken Shirin confirms. Caressing her shaven head he replies, “people like you always are.” He turns and leaves, leaving a sobbing Shirin to fall to the floor.

Some days later, Fatimah speaking to Shirin through the wall begs her to think back on her activities. Did she post something incriminating online? Did she listen to illegal music, did she meet someone? Did her family do something? Shirin begins to fret it was either the party she attended with Karim or her relationship with Paul. She soon becomes tearful as she realises if it is one, she risks condemning others with the alternative, before wondering aloud whether it is both.

The following morning the AKHID officer returns, having Shirin placed upon the chair and tied to it. He proclaims ignorance the defence of the simpleton and condemns Shirin for her arrogance, before gesturing in an officer, who pulls out a half-cut reed and crouches before Shirin. Again, demanding an apology, Shirin pleads ignorance, leading to the other to begin pushing the reed under Shirin’s fingernails causing her immense pain. Demanding an apology again, the officer slaps Shirin across the face when fails to answer. He and the other leave, though without untying her and removing the reed from her index finger. The next morning the officer returns, untying her and removing the reed slowly, he urges Shirin to cooperate and apologise for her indiscretion. He then explains that AKHID takes time to answer each incident but eventually all are rectified, even if it takes weeks or months. This causes Shirin to realise that her outburst at the In-Work Front Committee, her excoriating of the party and state was her crime. He urges her to think on her actions, saying she may well starve to death and leaves.

That night kept awake by the sounds of torture and violence, Shirin begins to compose music out of the sounds, the screaming, the thuds, the crying and the squeaky wheels that pass the door each night, the boots on concrete. Fatimah, weak voiced remarks on Shirin’s humming, she replies, “this our symphony, no brass, no string, just people.” The following morning, when the officer arrives, Shirin is sitting in the chair, looking up she says, "I am sorry" and the screen turns black.

In 2023, Shirin is shown playing the cello solo before an audience in Verlois, the Gaullican audience fading away into bloodied and scarred faces, who rise in applause and smiles.

See also

• 84th Montecara Film Festival