By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Afsaneh Salari
Original language title: Téhéran à vif
Year: 2026
Running time: 84
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt43746604/
Val says: “Salari’s first film is a powerful look at the cosmetic surgery epidemic in Tehran. She gains amazing access into surgical ’boutiques’, the influencer-doctors that run them, and their clientele. In one notable scene, Salari takes the viewer inside the operating room as the doctor is performing injections and filming content for his Instagram page. Salari weaves in stories from women in her own circle, read like poems over contextual shots of Tehran that brought incredible dimension to the already compelling observational storytelling from the clinics themselves. Salari’s style of filming feels very personal. As the close-up camera follows the path of sweat and blood across the skin of women (and men) who are opting to cut into their healthy bodies for the sake of beauty, agency, or oppression (depending on the audience’s view), I felt myself breathing along with the motion. The anesthesiologist counts down, the sound dampens, and we are the body on the table. I was completely immersed and entirely invested in the characters and the questions Salari puts forth in this triumph of a first film. 5 cats.”