Customer Reviews

Soraya (French Only Version - NO English Options)

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A very beautiful, romantic historical movie. Recommand to watch. Especially If you are Persian I strongly recommand to own a copy. Many thanks to Italian company for their good job in making this movie and all the extra effort they put. Usually making a historical movie costs more becuse of rebuilding all those past scenes and all those old cloths and fashions for army and people. The lady who is playing as princess Soraya is doing an extra ordinery job. the choice of actors was done precisely to match the faces of real characters. I hope a company translate this precious movie to english very soon, I waiting to buy the engllish version.

What you're looking at here is a made-for-TV movie, an Italian-German coproduction that aired in 2003.

Anne Valle stars as Princess Soraya Esfandiari, the Lady Di of pre-Revolutionary Iran. The movie has nothing to do with "Soraya," the Columbian-American singer who died of breast cancer in 2006.

The title you see above is accurate: there are no English options. All of the audio on the DVD being sold here in French, and there are no subtitle options in any language. I have no idea where this comes from, or why an English-language version has never been available.

"Soraya" is an Italian-German production that narrates the story of the ill-fated Princess Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiari, who became the second woman to marry the Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. Her beauty was legendary, and it is not surprising why the Shah fell for her over the many other young women paraded before him in an attempt to tempt him back into marriage.

The story is very romanticized, from the beautiful leading couple portraying the Shah and the Princess, as well as the gorgeous cinematography, and also the haunting score (which gets a tad annoying at times, as its constantly playing in the background). I can't comment on how true the dramatization is to real life but based on what I've read, it seems close enough to real events. The actors portray their respective roles with a high level of credibility, and their chemistry is quite potent.

Anyway, Princess Soraya for all her beauty and accomplishments, is a tragic figure in Iranian history as her failure to provide the Shah with the all-important heir to the Peacock Throne resulted in their ultimate divorce. Their doomed romance is one of the great love stories, poignantly captured on screen.

As for the availability of an English version, there is none. However, I managed to view this production on Youtube, thanks to a kind soul who actually provided English subtitles to accompany the Italian dialogue. So your best best in looking for an English-subtitled production is probably Youtube.

I have not seen this, but I love to.
Knowing that there are over than 1 million Iranian in the USA and many more oustside Iran who wish to see this movie (or TV series), if a movie channel or company at least subtitle it can make a lot of money. As for me I want to have it in any language !!