Céline Roustan
To say that Maryam is not having a good day is an understatement. Grief, anger, stress all combine to push her to her limits as she has to deal with her mother’s funeral reception, power outages, her younger daughter’s mental illness, her eldest daughter’s teenage rebellion, her loser husband and a freaking misplaced key! Just writing it all is exhausting. In Chicken Skin, writer/director Hadi Kouhbor immerses his audience in his main character’s hellish day, leaving you drained and gasping for air as the end credits start to roll.
As far as Iranian cinema is concerned, Kouhbor doesn’t stray too far from the beaten track. This is the story of a normal family dealing with what life has to throw at them, their complex dynamic strained until something happens that will irrevocably change everything. But like the masters of the genre, Kouhbor penned a nuanced and subtle screenplay, which also features a depiction of Iranian society as an insightful undertone. As an aficionado of Iranian cinema, I’m the target audience for this type of narrative, but Chicken Skin still managed to surprise me with how Kouhbor unfolds the events of that night on-screen.
Inspired by his own life, the screenplay definitely has a genuine feel to it, but what I found even more remarkable was the striking authenticity of the mother/daughter relationship. The convoluted tension hit close to home, as did the way the argument evolves throughout the film. Maryam and her daughter are two strong women, and it is their heated conversation that serves as the exposition for Chicken Skin. As both women complain about each other, the family picture is slowly painted, allowing the audience to put the pieces together as they’re revealed, deepening our engagement with the film. Shot handheld and as one long take, we are in this apartment with them, occupying the place of the camera. We’re never allowed a second to take a break, trapped in the frantic energy, anxiously waiting for something to either defuse the tension or explode it.
Roya Bakhtiary (L) and Zeynab Rezaei as the feuding mother and daughter in Chicken Skin
That argument, between mother and daughter, is definitely one of the most interesting I have ever seen on-screen. Both are having a terrible day, both are under a lot of stress and it’s no wonder that the smallest disagreement ignites a fire between them. From a missing key, the situation turns into what I can only describe as a trial. With their filters off, both unload everything that’s on their mind, occasionally entering into cruel territory, including the well-known retort – “you take after your dad’s side”. However, the escalation of the argument isn’t as straightforward as you’d expect, with the energy rising and falling as other things happen to distract the pair, this unexpected nature only works in making it all the more compelling.
The already incredibly strong screenplay is carried to the screen by the two lead actresses Roya Bakhtiary and Zeynab Rezaei, whose performances are simply flawless. Their chemistry is ideal in capturing the complicated relationship, with both spitting their lines like venom with a gripping sincerity. From our seats, early on, there is even a hint of humor from the sharpness of what they say and the rhythm of their back and forth. Bakhtiary as Maryam really brings it home though, since the film’s ending solely relies on her, it’s up to her to make that last scene heartbreaking and she certainly doesn’t disappoint.