Gabbeh

An old couple brings their gabbeh, a Persian rug, to the river to wash it. When they spread the rug, a young woman magically appears. She turns out to be from the clan portrayed on the gabbeh. The rug tells the story of her uncle, who tries to find himself a bride, but also her own history. The young woman longs for a stranger whom she hopes to marry.

Adrian Martin: “Some Iranian films, by reaching back and reworking ancient traditions of art and craft making, revitalised the cinema of poetry in the 1980s and ‘90s. Makhmalbaf’s Gabbeh is a remarkable example of this tendency.”

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