The Cinematheque

“The grandeur and power of this film does not come from a gaze that looks from the outside, seeing the whole picture, but which comes from the inside out, navigating its way to truth through detail—even banality. It is domestic, not proprietorial. This has always been the woman’s point of view.”

Tamara Tracz, Senses of Cinema

This raw and powerful social drama strips away the polished surface of Tehran to reveal the struggles of a family fighting for dignity. At the heart of the story is Tuba (Golab Adineh), a factory worker and the resilient matriarch of a family living on the edge of poverty. While she battles to keep her household together, her eldest son Abbas (Mohammad Reza Foroutan) becomes consumed by the dream of a better life abroad, leading him to take a desperate gamble that puts the family’s only asset—their modest home—at risk. Meanwhile, her younger children are caught between the restrictive traditions of their neighbourhood and the turbulent political changes of a modernizing city. Masterfully directed by Rakhshan Banietemad and featuring a legendary performance by Adineh, Under the Skin of the City is a poignant exploration of maternal love, the crushing weight of class disparity, and the perils of hope in an unforgiving urban landscape.

In Farsi with English subtitles

Introduced by director Rakhshan Banietemad.