Circumstance
Participant Media | Release Date: August 26, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
8
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonSep 8, 2011
This movie doesn't work unless the central relationship between Atafeh and Shireen works. It does, beautifully; whether together in a nightclub or alone in a bedroom, Boosheri and Kazemy find a delicacy and sensitivity that reinforces, not diminishes, their strength. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumAug 24, 2011
Here, love and attraction between two teenage girls put them on a collision course with Tehran society in general and one girl's troubled, increasingly religious brother in particular. Read full review
88
New York PostV.A. MusettoAug 26, 2011
There are superb performances by Iranian-Canadian Nikohl Boosheri as Atafeh, the more rebellious of the two women, and French-born Sarah Kazemy as the less-privileged Shireen. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJames GreenbergJul 30, 2011
Overall this is an impressive debut from a filmmaker with something to say and the talent to say it. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezOct 13, 2011
Circumstance, the story of the budding romance between two high school girls, is unlike any adolescent love story you've ever seen: This one takes place in Tehran. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenOct 6, 2011
As the plot moves toward the climax, where each girl is forced to make a hard choice dictated by her unique "circumstance," that feeling of compression, of so many contradictory urges and needs vying for attention, grows almost overwhelming. Such is life among the young in present-day Tehran, up on the screen for all to see – all but those who most need to see it. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonSep 16, 2011
Offers an inside look at Iran in all its cultural complexity. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrSep 8, 2011
A rhapsodic erotic romance that takes place in a cultural prison, and it pulses with a defiance that would be mischievous if it weren't so rip-roaringly angry. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinAug 29, 2011
Kazemy and Boosheri are excellent, and Soheil Parsa and Nasrin Pakkho are also fine as Atefeh's doting, liberal parents. And if Keshavarz is less successful managing the film's sometimes choppy narrative, she is clearly willing to take risks on all fronts. More power to her. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonAug 25, 2011
This is a movie about longing, desire, desperation and the abandonment of principle - quite a collection of themes, all universal. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. ScottAug 25, 2011
Though it lacks the artful, headlong immediacy of "The Circle" and "Offside," Jafar Panahi's films about women in Tehran - and the breakneck exuberance of Bahman Ghobadi's "No One Knows About Persian Cats," about Tehran's underground music scene - Circumstance ripples with the indignant energy of youthful rebellion. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovSep 15, 2011
Its sappy, melodramatic overtones – Bonnie Tyler not included – can be overlooked, as this is as much a political statement as it is a love story. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubSam AdamsAug 24, 2011
Perhaps it's unfair to compare Circumstance to the very different "Persepolis," but it's hard not to drift off to Marjane Satrapi's more pungent and personally inflected evocation of the same terrain, in which the characters are as vivid as their surroundings. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaSep 8, 2011
Circumstance is more interesting for its cultural views than for its insights into love, sex, family angst, and rebellious youth. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsSep 8, 2011
The film wages an internal battle between its ripely sensual atmosphere and its often stilted pacing and plotting. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertSep 7, 2011
The strongest message for most Western audiences will be the way the subjugation of women saturates every aspect of this society, and clearly informs even Mehran's kinkiness. Yes, but I wish Keshavarz had chosen a more low-key, everyday approach to two ordinary teenagers, and gone slowly on the lush eroticism and cinematic voyeurism. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazineMark OlsenAug 29, 2011
Circumstance demonstrates raw talent and a taste for big ideas. Read full review
60
SalonAndrew O'HehirAug 28, 2011
As to the question of whether Circumstance is actually a good film, or just one with an important story to tell, a high degree of difficulty and some hot all-girl action, I think the verdict is mixed. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierAug 26, 2011
Keshavarz's vision is clear and heartfelt, and everyone has an urgency in their eyes. Read full review
60
NPRMark JenkinsAug 25, 2011
Circumstance is best during its simpler, more naturalistic moments. In one, Mehran rebuffs a junkie who stumbles into the mosque, only to see that an Islamic hardliner is more compassionate. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerSep 2, 2011
Despite its arty veneer and its ostensibly political edge, Circumstance seems more interested in titillation than revelation. Read full review
50
Village VoiceMelissa AndersonAug 23, 2011
Keshavarz's earnest, well-intentioned first feature on women's oppression in Iran has trouble resisting its own heavy hand. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineNick SchagerAug 22, 2011
Since Mehran's embrace of hardline Islam is never dramatized or elaborated on in any insightful way. Read full review
40
Time OutDavid FearAug 24, 2011
The closer this parable inches toward tragedy, the more you can feel the gap between good intentions and generic exotica-grandstanding widening into an unbridgeable chasm. Read full review
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