Product Details

• Actors: Nikohl Boosheri, Sarah Kazemy, Reza Sixo Safai, Soheil Parsa, Nasrin Pakkho
• Directors: Maryam Keshavarz
• Writers: Maryam Keshavarz
• Producers: Maryam Keshavarz, Karin Chien, Melissa Lee, Antonin Dedet
• Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Lions Gate
• DVD Release Date: December 13, 2011
• Run Time: 107 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B005Q4CLKW
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #20,314 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Circumstance" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Winner of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award, CIRCUMSTANCE is a provocative coming-of-age story that cracks open the hidden, underground world of Iranian youth culture filled with sex, drugs and defiance. From newcomer Maryam Keshavarz, this suspenseful tale of love and defiance unfolds as a wealthy family struggles to contain their teenage daughter’s growing sexual rebellion and her brother’s dangerous obsession.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 35 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous film, painfully real December 13, 2011

By swami.salami

Format:DVD

This was a beautifully filmed piece of art. Each scene was gorgeous to watch, and the unfolding love between these two women was portrayed in a realistic way. The story was not only moving but the film as a whole touches on extremely important political and social issues in Persian culture. Yet, it also transcends Persian culture as the theme of patriarchy is relevant everywhere. Heartbreaking and relevant - a must-see.

33 of 41 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I loved this movie. :) December 10, 2011

By Amanda1201

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

Dear Current Reader,

This movie truly shows the love between two women. These actresses truly show the love between their two characters. This movie is about the freedom to be yourself, to express yourself as an individual. This is truly difficult in Iran today, but especially with the current Iranian girls and boys. It is a message that whereever you live, you have the right to be who you choose to be and who you want to fall in love with.

The story of these two girls, it just carries me away. I'm truly impressed by the story from beginning to end. I agree with my follow reviewer that the film is organized, deep and very sensual.
I love this story.

[SPOILER ALERT]
My only wish was that these two in the end would have been together, I was extremely upset when in the end they didn't end up together.

However, this movie expresses an overall message-that even though it may be difficult to be yourself, you should not let that stop you from being who you are, and who you love.
I loved this movie and I hope that you all check it out.

Sending my love-and to all those who are having trouble coming out or having a hard time being yourself-It gets better! trust me. It took me a long time to come out to my parents, but in the end they accepted me for who I was and I will be forever grateful! I send my love to all of you! <3

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Just Love it !! December 5, 2011

By D. Nyma

Format:Blu-ray

It's about human rights and freedom of expression in Iran today but especially in the current Iranian girls & boys, therefore a universal message.
I've all been carried away by this story from the beginning until the end. These girls are very talented. This film is very well organized, deep and very sensual.
I must say, Maryam is a genius director !!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Richly satisfying January 4, 2012

By V. R. Gardner

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

Maryam Keshavarz is maturing as a filmmaker, and this film demonstrates the rich story-telling tradition within which she is working. Although the film's box screams "sex", there is so much more to this than just two girls getting it on. Iran has a great deal of conflict between and within generations about what to do with music and singing by women, and this film portrays that complexity beautifully, with a story that is not polemical. Iran has a rich music culture, both "traditional" and "modern", and one can begin to see here some of the problems and intersections.

Superb film that is likely to be better each time you watch it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Love is.... January 17, 2012

By Grady Harp HALL OF FAMETOP 50 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

CIRCUMSTANCE is a brave film from the respected filmmaker Maryam Keshavarz who both wrote and directed this film about contemporary mores and cultural taboos in Iran. It is a film that dares to create a story about family, the youth culture of clubs and drugs and all night music, about the Morality Police who carefully guard the standards of public (and private!) behavior, and about same sex liaisons. It is a beautifully photographed study of star-crossed lovers who happen to both be young teenage girls and the manner in which they cope with their love and with the family and world outside the sanctity of their breathtakingly erotic moments together. Because of the lack of sanctions of the themes of the film which is supposedly set in Tehran the film had to be shot in Lebanon: knowing this adds to the impact of the drama the film so carefully exposes.

Since any public expression of passion is forbidden between Keshavarz's two teenage female protagonists, it brings a whole other level of tension and dread to their shared attraction. Atafeh (Nikohl Boosheri) has the resources and security provided by her wealthy family that allows her to live a double life with her friend and eventual lover, Shireen (Sarah Kazemy). In order to fully explore their feelings, the young women escape into their fantasies of living in a more enlightened land such as Dubai, a haven which is tantamount to Oz. The life of teenage love is difficult enough, but it is even more difficult if that love is between two members of the same sex. Apparently Iran is a country where homosexual relationships can be punishable by death. Atafeh lives in a family of wealth and privilege with her parents (Soheil Parsa and Nasrin Pakkho) and brother, Mehran, (Reza Sixo Safai).... Shireen is not of the same class: she lives with her Aunt and Uncle after being orphaned by her parents who were killed by the government for their immoral ways. Atahfeh and Shireen are two teenage school girls who begin as best friends and gradually discover that they are in love. The girls are also rebellious to Iran's strict religious and socialist ways, being caught up in Tehran's underground nightclub scene. Mehran, a former musician and drug addict, has become a radical Muslim and informant for the Morality Police, installing cameras in every room of his home to spy on his family, capturing all the comings and goings of each member of the household, including the trysts between Ayafeh and Shireen, and devises a plan with the Morality Police to marry Shireen after she and Atafeh are arrested by the morality police for partying at a night club. The young lovers discover the circumstances that force them into lives away from each other and the decisions they make (or are made for them) form the conclusion of this haunting film.

Apparently there is great resentment from many Persian viewers who feel the film does not project the real situation in Tehran or in Iran as a whole. This may be true, but the film is not a documentary: Keshavarz has taken an idea and molded with certain flavors and spices and delivers this brave little film by introducing the extraordinary beauty of the two leading actresses. The cast is solid and if the script could use some editing or re-sculpting it still delivers a concept about same sex love and the lack of acceptance that seems to be global. We rarely are able to see Persian films and this one is well worth attention. It is not meant to be factual: it is a story exotically told - and memorable. Grady Harp, January 12 Read more ›

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and eye opening for gays in the U.S. - we are not that dissimilar September 4, 2012

By P

Format:Amazon Instant Video

There have been few movies in my lifetime that have had such a profound affect on me as Circumstance. The movie ended and my heart was heavy. I could not sleep. I would be sick to have to sit at the same table as my brother and parents knowing his wedding night was to the woman I love and imagining what he did to her the night before. The correlations to a third world country and the "progressive" United States were absolutely terrifying. Other than not having to fear a political official performing a gynecological exam on me to see if my hymen was still in tact, we are not dissimilar. Gays to this day do not walk hand in hand comfortably on our streets. We do not have the same equalities that heterosexuals enjoy with marriage to protect our property, our children, our work, or when we are sick and cannot visit our partners. Those considered minorities have such privileges. In some sense, our pets have more regard and more protections than the gay community. We forget that we too have cameras prevalent in our cities and in everyone's hand to ensure that nothing goes unnoticed. We worry about politicians taking Planned Parenthood away from women even today. The discussion of how a woman uses her own body is still in the hands of politicians. We are not very different at all. A must see.