10 = Ten

In Abbas Kiarostami’s “Ten”, ten vignettes, set in a car, are linked by the presence of the driver - a young mother, struggling to juggle the needs of her estranged young son and of her new marriage. Each conversation is, in essence, a reflection upon the human condition, and the fraught process of communication. Whilst passengers include the driver’s sister, a broken-hearted friend, an old woman and a prostitute, the most fascinating passenger is the woman’s son. The audience pays witness to their fraught and burdened relationship and the stubborn inability of each to simply hear the other. Using digital technology, Kiarostami’s minimalist approach presents a complex prism of the delicately balanced place of women in Iranian society.