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'Fireworks Wednesday': Fascinating comedy of bad manners from Oscar-winning Iranian director

One of the most insightful, keen observers of romantic relationships in his native Iran, writer-director Asghar Farhadi has earned an international following with a pair of exquisite dramas about marriages gone wrong, The Past (2013) and A Separation, which won the 2012 Oscar for best foreign film.

Hedieh Tehrani, left, and Hamid Farokh-Nejad in "Fireworks Wednesday"
Hedieh Tehrani, left, and Hamid Farokh-Nejad in "Fireworks Wednesday"Read moreGrasshopper Film

One of the most insightful, keen observers of romantic relationships in his native Iran, writer-director Asghar Farhadi has earned an international following with a pair of exquisite dramas about marriages gone wrong, The Past (2013) and A Separation, which won the 2012 Oscar for best foreign film.

Thanks to his Oscar, there's a market for all things Farhadi in America, including his earlier work. That includes 2006's Fireworks Wednesday, a loopy, off-the-wall tragicomedy that chronicles a particularly stressful day in the life of a miserably unhappy couple whose marriage is on its last legs.

It's the eve of Iran's biggest secular holiday, the Persian New Year, and as the city of Tehran buzzes with activity, the couple are at each other's throats.

A comedy of bad manners that puts an Iranian spin on Pedro Almodóvar's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Fireworks Wednesday covers the same thematic terrain as the later films, without their polished perfection. Its absurdist comic tone, which we haven't seen before from this director, is fascinating and immensely enjoyable.

Hedye Tehrani stars as Mozhde, an upper-middle-class woman in her 30s whose decadelong marriage to the abusive, selfish Morteza (Hamid Farokhnezhad) has reduced her to a quivering, paranoid mess. Convinced her husband is having an affair with one of their neighbors, she's constantly spying at keyholes, pressing her ear to closed doors, and listening intently at ventilation shafts.

As her suspicions grow, so does her husband's abuse - when he catches her spying on him outside his office building, he beats her in the middle of the street.

Farhadi has a talent for grounding his memorable characters in their cultural context. His films aren't about the abstract idea of romance. They show how relationships are shaped - and twisted - in the Islamic Republic of Iran, a theocratic, paternalistic state.

Fireworks Wednesday tells this couple's story from the point of view of their new cleaning lady, Roohi (Taraneh Alidoosti). A young, beautiful working-class woman who is days away from her own wedding, Roohi is a naive, innocent soul who's fascinated and perplexed by the goings on around her.

She comes off as a simpleton - all wide-eyed and open-jawed - as she insinuates herself in every aspect of her employer's daily life. Yet she's so charming, so brimming with life, it's hard not to fall in love with her - even as we are increasingly repulsed by everyone around her.

We have to wonder where Roohi will be in 10 years. Will she still be joyous, fresh, and alive? Or will marriage Islamic Republic-style kill that spirit?

Can love ever truly thrive in this soil?

tirdad@phillynews.com

215-854-2736

Fireworks Wednesday
Directed by Asghar Farhadi. With Hedye Tehrani, Taraneh Alidoosti, Hamid Farokhnezhad. Distributed by Grasshopper Film. In Persian with English subtitles.
Running time: 1 hour, 42 mins.
Parent's guide: Not rated (adult themes, profanity, smoking).
Playing at: Ritz at the Bourse.