neli mukherjee

This film is a melancholic contemplation on "what happens when a creator is forced to stop creating." Panahi suffers as he watches his characters getting caught in a limbo - the characters cease to be because the director has been forbidden to create them. In the writer's desperate attempt to protect the dog we find Panahi's desperation to save his art. The girl intrudes the writer's recluse the way the authoritative regime intrudes and vandalises Panahi's creative world. But the creator refuses to abandon his characters as at the final shot Panahi's car returns to pick up the writer. This film is a multilayered rumination on the journey of creation in the face of adversity.