Film

Not Without My Daughter (1990)

Director: Brian Gilbert

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

According to her Iranian-born husband Moody (Molina), Betty Mahmoody (Field) is as American as apple pie. Certainly Moody's family reunion in Tehran ain't her idea of a holiday, and no sooner have they stepped on foreign soil than Betty is accosted by shrieking women beseeching her to cover her head. Things get worse. She's informed that Moody plans to stay in Iran and raise their little girl as a Muslim. The law strips Betty of all her rights, while Moody prevents her from leaving the house. Based on Betty Mahmoody's real-life story, the film emphasises her isolation, surrounded by an incomprehensible language and culture, and by vehement anti-American sentiments. Field captures the sense of outrage to perfection, puffy-eyed, screaming and plotting escape. Appropriately enough, the film is strictly deglamorised; combined with the lack of sympathetic characters, it all adds up to difficult, compelling viewing as we're drawn into the deepening nightmare.

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