“Shab, Dakheli, Divar” (Beyond the Wall) Photocall – 79th Venice International Film Festival

What follows sees Leila experiencing one of several epileptic fits she suffers during the action, before she goes on the run to Ali’s apartment block, with its heavily symbolic spiral staircase. There’s something of a spiral structure built in all along, with the action repeatedly looping back to sometimes confusing effect: one scene in the flat plays twice over in two different consecutive versions, while the film plays fast and loose with both time and space, Ali’s flat proving altogether unmappable even if you really pay close attention to its layout.

September 8, 2022 | 6:38 pm