Unsaid words from “The Last Supper” / “This movie can’t be made anymore”

Charso Press: Most of the movies made in Iran’s university and student atmosphere were made in the 70s and 80s, and in each of them, political, social, cultural, or romantic themes are seen alternately. Earlier, under the pretext of approaching Student Day (December 16), the film “Protest” by Masoud Kimiai, which has a stronger political and student background, was mentioned, and now we are talking about one of the films that was made in 1380, and although it is known more romantically, It takes a serious look at “woman” as an activist and a transition period from tradition to modernity.

“The Last Supper” is Fereydoun Jirani’s fourth film, which became a trilogy after the films “Red” and “Water and Fire”, and he believes that this trilogy made his name known as a filmmaker in the cinema; A trilogy whose main characters had the last name “Mashreghi” and of course they were repeated in other films of this journalist and filmmaker.

An important part of the movie “The Last Supper” takes place in the atmosphere of the university to tell the story of the life of an architecture professor (Mihan Mashriqi played by Ketayoun Riahi) who for years suffered from the dry beliefs and blind prejudice of his wife (played by Attila Pesiani) and after the divorce He encounters the “earthly” love of one of his students (Mani played by Mohammad Reza Golzar).

Jirani made this film at a time when, from a political point of view, Iranian society had passed certain years.

In an interview he had last year under the pretext of his 20th anniversary with the film “The Last Night”, he said: “The Last Night” is a product of the end of the first era of reforms, and at the time of filming, presidential elections were being held in the north where we were. We were at the end of a period when everything had changed, like journalism that was closed almost a year ago, cinema and theater, books and literature had changed shape and humanities had grown, which have been gradually limited since the 80s.

Referring to the period in which the films depicted female heroes, Jirani stated: “Zen Heroine is the product of a short period in which Behrooz Afkhami with “Shokran”, Tahmine Milani with “Do Zan” and then Manijeh Hekmat with ” “Women’s Prison” had a part in it. This female protagonist is the product of an era, and as soon as we reach the second reforms, this way and view that women defend their rights will gradually disappear from the movies, and the bitter social cinema will emerge, which was the beginning of “Chearshenba Suri”. In my opinion, this period starts with “Red” (1377) and ends with “The Last Supper” (1380). “After that, I also changed course, because of the pressures that existed after the ‘Last Supper’ on this kind of thinking.”

This movie director gives examples of this type of pressure, including the analysis that, according to him, had nothing to do with the film, and also the complaint that one of the judicial authorities filed against the film.

At the same time, he said that “the council (to obtain a production license) did not find any problems when they read the script and “The Last Supper” is one of the few films that was made almost what I wrote. Of course, he imagines that if he had not obtained the permission to screen his film before the Fajr festival, it is likely that after the screening at the festival, he would have either made an amendment for “The Last Dinner” or would not have succeeded in obtaining the permission for the screening at all.

Regarding the actors of his film, Jirani said that he tried not to have commercial castings: In the film “The Last Supper”, Ketayoun Riahi gave his best role, and new names were cast alongside him, which made him The producer was also under pressure. “When we invited Golzar, I had not seen his movie “Sam and Nargis” and “The Last Supper” was the first movie released by him. Haniye Tusli was introduced by Nazanin Mofkham (Tadvingar) and a film of his performance directed by Mehdi Karampour was shown in which Haq Walansaf played well. Before Ketayun Riahi, Bita Farhi came and we took pictures. It was even supposed to be played by Jaleh Kazemi, the famous stunt double, who was far from the age of our role (Mihan Mashriqi). Then I saw a photo of Mrs. Riahi, which I think was the best option. Mahnaz Afshar was also supposed to play the role of Haniyeh Tausli, but she did not fit in the photos (makeup test). Leila Hatami also read the script and said that she is older than this role.

The movie “The Last Supper” is one of those movies that did not get much attention during the festival and its release, and Jirani himself said about it: Some movies are not well known or understood in their first release and they need time. This film was not seen by the critics or judges of the festival and I did not see anyone after the Fajr festival who said that he liked the film. “The Last Supper” was cold in the 20th festival and had no more than three candidates. Even in the festival bulletin, the film was insulted and a bitter cartoon was printed that I will never forget.

In this film, Jirani has a sequence where the daughter (star) dreams of her mother being stoned to death, and he said about this: This is the only stoning that we see in Iranian fiction cinema, and in general, if we want to make “The Last Supper” now, we can’t. Maybe “Red” or “Water and Fire” can be made in some way, but “The Last Supper” at all.

He has also said about his “Mashreghis”: My first “Meshreghis” were my heroes, but in the end they took a different shape. Hasti Mashriqi, Ali Mashriqi, Mihan and Adel Mashriqi were all my heroes, but they changed gradually, because the “Eastern” people in the society also changed.

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