Apart from shared themes that the play and the film have — primarily in terms of one's interpretation of and reaction to reality, the theatre portions also show how life sometimes forces you to go out into the world and put on an act...

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 25, 2023

There’s a general literal-mindedness to Farhadi that’s wince-inducing.

| Jan 17, 2023

Farhadi’s skillful treatment is anything but pointless and helps to prod our minds to think more about the film’s meaning.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 25, 2022

Farhadi's moral puzzles do not end by passing judgment from a moralist perspective; they prompt us to search inward to assess the choices and behavior on display.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | May 2, 2022

...a film to be celebrated everywhere, particularly as an artifact of universal humanity in a time when American policy with regards to Iran is strained at best...

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 24, 2020

Deeply philosophical with human entanglements, culture, tradition, class and morality, The Salesman is a complex drama with a great narrative pull that is a richly rewarding experience.

| Jul 17, 2020

While The Salesman mostly unfolds in the pressure cooker of Emad and Rana's workspace home, there is a deft subplot in which we see Emad in his other role as a high school drama teacher.

| Jun 8, 2020

As an unfiltered drama, the film works to perfection; as a crime story, the pacing and flow are so unlike what Western audiences are used to, it might seems strange and oddly constructed.

| May 1, 2020

The Salesman may challenge some preconceptions, without losing sight of the problems that still affect the country.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jan 28, 2020

Farhadi's strength lies in his ability to cast adept performers able to convey the subtle complexities of his prose, and what Taraneh Alidoosti and Shahab Hosseini achieve here is exciting as it is troubling.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 4, 2019

There is a reason Farhadi is an award-winning filmmaker and The Salesman is a shining example of his excellent work.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 13, 2019

Slow moving and emotionally involving, Farhadi's The Salesman is immaculately crafted but lacks the power and potency of A Seperation.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 2, 2019

Don't miss this film, and if you're not already familiar with the play within the film, this is a great excuse to correct that.

| Feb 21, 2019

Farhadi is an artisan of empathy.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Dec 6, 2018

The prize for the most relentlessly depressing film of the year must surely go to Asghar Farhadi's The Salesman; it really is the most bleak of morality plays.

| Nov 3, 2018

Cinema is a machine that generates empathy, and there's no greater example of its potential do so than The Salesman.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 1, 2018

Asghar Farhadi is a morality play machine. He cranks them out like no tomorrow, and every single time I can't help but admire how grippingly he tells them.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 5, 2018

See The Salesman for an expertly crafted lesson in cultural differences.

| Aug 29, 2018

An uncomfortably intimate look at our most destructive emotions.

| Aug 29, 2018

The opening moments of The Salesman underscore Farhadi's status as one of the great unsung visual stylists of contemporary cinema.

| Aug 25, 2018