1-World Festival of Foreign Films
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"The Actor"
1993
Directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf

In this wild comedy of marital discord, a popular film actor who idolizes Chaplin is thrown into an odd love triangle by his wife, who, unable to have a child, insists he take a second wife--a mute Gypsy girl--to provide them with a baby. The proposed arrangement makes life even more unsettling for the actor, already dissatisfied with the mindless films he makes to support the family's wealthy and ultra-modern lifestyle. "...a comic allegory about the rift between traditional and contemporary Iran, in which class differences and cultural differences are equally pertinent" (Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader). Farsi with English subtitles. 88 minutes.