The Cinematheque

In writer-director Ramtin Lavafipour’s Hat Trick, a taut psychological thriller set amongst the Iranian middle class, two quarrelling couples strike something with their car while driving home from a party. Leaving the scene of the accident, they spend a difficult night discussing what to do next. Amir Jadidi, Parinaz Izadyar, Saber Abar, and Mahoor Alvand play the principals. Lavafipour’s well-crafted, well-acted film won the Best Screenplay award at last year’s Fajr IFF; Alvand won the festival’s Best Actress prize. Jadidi can also be seen in Cold Sweat, July’s Iranian presentation. ​“We can surely discern the influence of Iran’s leading inquisitor of middle-class morality, Asghar Farhadi, in this tense and probing chamber piece. The hit-and-run drama proves just the inciting element in what proves to be a devastating dissection of multiple personal failings, secrets, lies, and hypocrisies” (VIFF).