TEHRAN-The critically acclaimed Iranian feature film “The Old Bachelor” directed by Oktay Baraheni will have its UK premiere at the London Breeze Film Festival (LBFF), due to be held form October 23 to 27.

Released in 2024, the searing tragedy is Baraheni’s second feature film after “Bridge of Sleep” (2016), which has become an international success, ISNA reported.

The movie has recently won the Best Film Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the World Cinema award at the Galway Film Fleadh in Ireland, and the Best Actor Award at the Transilvania International Film Festival in Romania for Hasan Pourshirazi for his towering performance as the family patriarch.

Baraheni’s second feature is a gripping domestic saga about two middle-aged brothers (Hamed Behdad, Mohammad Valizadegan) who live with their bullying father (Pourshirazi). A man prone to rages and driven by chauvinism, the father’s abusiveness found his second wife leaving him. Now he picks on his eldest son, while the younger sibling fantasizes about ways to end his father's life. When the man rents out the flat above to a young woman (Leila Hatami), with intentions of marrying her, the woman’s attraction to the older son slowly pushes this profoundly damaged family to breaking point. 

Exploring powerful themes of patriarchy, misogyny, love, violence and tragedy, this film is a masterclass in storytelling, through its gripping, nuanced dialogue, exquisite attention to detail and its development of tension, which simmers throughout the film until it reaches boiling point in the final, explosive act,

If Baraheni’s debut feature “Bridge of Sleep” drew inspiration from Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment,” his sophomore feature channels the dark soul of Shakespeare’s family tragedies. 

A coruscating critique of patriarchy, like the best Iranian films, the power of “The Old Bachelor” lies in balancing the specificity of its locale with a wider, more universal commentary on any society where gender inequality exists, and patriarchy is accepted as the status quo. 

A film director, writer, and producer, Baraheni, 50, is a graduate of the fine arts from York University in Toronto, Canada. His successful career includes several short films and a documentary about the well-known Iranian poet and writer Reza Baraheni (his father).

This year’s edition of London Breeze Film Festival includes a gala opening film, an industry day, an immersive program of AR/VR/XR films, shorts programs, UK feature fiction and documentary premieres and previews, Impact Day, Youth and Family Day, and the awards ceremony.

Photo: Hamed Behdad (L) and Leila Hatami in a scene from “The Old Bachelor”

SS/SAB