Goodbye

A female lawyer, recently barred from practising law, applies for a visa to leave Iran in Mohammad Rasoulof's hushed thriller.

Noura (Leila Zare), a lawyer who has recently had her license to practise law revoked, is living alone in Tehran. With an unspoken urgency, she plans to emigrate from Iran; but her plans to secure a visa are hindered from the beginning as her husband, who has mysteriously left Tehran, is unable to give his consent.

Curator's note

Mohammad Rasoulof's hushed and uniquely paced thriller was unveiled at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011 – his first film since being arrested in 2010 for filming without a permit and propagandising against the regime.

Stylistically, Goodbye looks and feels very different to Rasoulof's previous two films. The Tehran of the film is cold and isolating and the poeticism of Rasoulof's earlier works gives way to a more overt critique of the lack of personal freedom in present-day Iran.

– Reece Goodwin, Curator (Film & TV)