The sparkle in Amir Jadidi’s eyes, when we speak, is a million miles from the hangdog look haunting his character Rahim in revered Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix-winner, A Hero ().
“I’m hyperactive,” he says with a chuckle. “So it was a really great experience to work with Mr Farhadi, because I love that he is a director who is so serious at work. He knows what he wants, and if he wanted me to work for 20 hours in a row, I would. I’m excited. I’m never tired.”
The one-time professional tennis player brings an energy that is worlds away from Rahim, the tortured soul he plays in the film. When we meet Rahim, the gentle soul has just been granted two-day release from prison, where he is languishing after failing to pay a considerable debt. Travelling to his sister’s home in Shiraz via a stopover in awe-inspiring ancient ruins, he is soon presented with what at first appears to be a fairytale-like gift. His secret lover Farkhondeh (the impressively named Sahar Goldust) has stumbled upon a bag packed full of gold coins. They plan to pawn the loot in order to secure his release.
But this being a Farhadi film – the man – the fact they decide instead to find the bag’s owner and return the gold is a good deed that nevertheless spirals into the sort of knotty morality play for which the filmmaker is renowned. A Hero may present as an intimate family drama, but it will have you on the edge of your seat like any high stakes thriller.
“When I read the script, I felt awful for Rahim,” Jadidi says. “He is not a bad man, but he has very bad luck. But it reminded me of some old Iranian poems that I read to Mr Farhadi that tell us when you have bad luck in life, you must accept it and move on.”
And so Rahim does, but every attempt to right the course of his life and pay his debt to Bahram (an excellent Mohsen Tanabandeh) only leads to more strife. “It’s so stressful,” Jadidi agrees. “There is a scene where Rahim fights with Bahram and I did not think he would do that, but Mr Farhadi said, 'Rahim is not a fighter, but he fights because life put him in that situation’.”
Jadidi’s other life as a professional tennis player helped him get in the zone with Rahim’s struggles. “I found a connection between tennis and acting, because both need amazing focus,” he says. “In tennis, you should live on the court. You shouldn’t play if you cannot. It’s the same when acting in front of a camera. You shouldn’t play the part. You should live it.”
This intense focus helped Jadidi nail the Shirazian accent for the part. “I went to Shiraz about two months before shooting to learn it,” he says. “It was so difficult because they are softly spoken people who speak from their head. Their voice is low and slow, whereas I speak from my chest. They say nobody can speak like us.”
Jadidi was determined to prove them wrong. He loves the city that lies around a ten-hour drive south of his home in Iran’s capital city Tehran. “It’s a really cultural place,” Jadidi says. “The people are great there, so kind, and I think that’s why Mr Farhadi wanted to shoot the film there. It goes back to the idea of those poems I told you about, this idea that anything can happen to you, and you should accept it and try your best.”
Jadidi’s drive to learn new skills fits well with Farhadi’s outlook. “I learned so many things from him. Really more than cinema, acting and arts. I learned because of his moral value. I learned humanity from him.”
The gift of conveying our humanity makes Farhadi films sing, with an almost documentary-like focus that includes hiring non-professional actors to play many of the supporting roles. “Mr Farhadi says he makes his movies like a documentary so that when you watch them, you get the feeling you are watching real life,” Jadidi says.
This is what makes A Hero so gripping. The star acknowledges he may be somewhat biased, but says it’s his favourite Farhadi film, and Rahim his favourite character from that canon. “But all of his movies are great,” he smiles. “I hope we can work together again.”
A Hero is now streaming on SBS On Demand
A Separation
PG
Iran, 2011
Genre: Drama
Language: Persian-Farsi
Director: Asghar Farhadi
Starring: Leila Hatami
What's it about?
A married couple are faced with a difficult decision: to improve the life of their child by moving to another country, or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.
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