Search - Donya on DVD

Quite funny and entertaining, but has some negatives

Humpty Dumpty | MD, USA | 08/11/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a movie of many contrasts:

1. Most of the story is an absolutely delightful
romantic comedy. Near the end it turns into a melodrama.
The conclusion is somewhat forced; I felt let down by it.

2. The actor and actresses that play Donya, the Hadji, and the
Hadji's wife, are terrific. Their performances are absolutely
natural and life-like. It's difficult to think of anyone
else playing their roles quite as well. Hadji's wife (Gohar
Kheyrandish) puts on a particularly brilliant performance.

Everyone else is horribly bad. Hadji's son and daughter and
Donya's aunt and cousin give the impression that they
were grabbed off the street and brought into the studio in
the last minute to fill their roles without much rehearsal,
direction or practice. Donya's aunt appears to be on stage in
body, but not in spirit. Donya's cousin, in a few scenes that he
appears, gives the impression that he has no clue of what the
rest of the movie is about. Near the end of the movie, Hadji's
daughter, Tahereh, refers to her own sister as "Tahereh"
instead of the correct "Reyhaneh". You'd think that someone
would have caught this during the production.

3. The film music by Alireza Lachini is creative, fitting
and beautiful.

4. The English subtitles are mostly adequate but I wish they
had been reviewed by a native English speaker for correctness,
spelling, grammar and idioms. "The car was at the door" is
translated to "the car wasn't at the door". At least in one
place "to dye" is spelt "to die". "Manhood and shame don't come
together" should be "Manhood and shame don't go together".
"To hire an apartment" should be "to rent an apartment", unless
this is a British usage with which I am unfamiliar.

In the opening credits, the Persian "Sarmaye-gozar"
is translated as "Capitalist" rather than "Producer" or
"Investor". Additionally, names don't follow the customary
English punctuation and capitalization rules. For example,
"G. Kheyrandish" is spelled as "G.kheyrandish".

5. The DVD itself is of poor quality. It appears to be a
copy of a very worn out and scratched film. The top and
bottom have been excessively cropped. There is at least
one place where about two seconds of the movie are missing.
It gives the impression of being a bootleg DVD, made by
not-so-sophisticated bootleggers.

Overall:

Despite the inadequacies noted above, I have given the movie
four stars because of the riveting performances by the beautiful
Hedye Tehrani (Donya), Mohammad Reza Sharifi-nia (Hadji Enayat)
and Gohar Kheyrandish (Hadji's wife). The movie is well worth a
view just for watching these three wonderful players perform.
Buy it. You'll like it!"