Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, goes the old saying which very much applies to this documentary. Given on the perspective, Divorce Iranian Style can be both perplexingly exceptional as well as entertaining. The film covers a divorce courtroom in Tehran, Iran and documents the judicial system of the county that conspires to keep women in unhappy marriages even if they decide to fight against it.
From mostly a fixed view of the camera, we see the women come into the courtroom appealing for the divorce by trying to convince the judge of the atrocities against them. However the judicial system of the country is so oppressive of the women that they can opt for a divorce only under certain limited conditions.
We see as even the judge conspires to the oppression as he almost always sides with the husband and sticks to the orthodox belief that women want to stay with their husband no matter what. The women cry their heart out in front of him but he still won’t let his belief be challenged. Majority of the film documents that presenting a truth and evidence of how orthodox the laws of Iran are.
Director Kim Longinotto and Ziba Mir-Hosseini present a picture completely of the divorce court which is in itself evident of the country’s divorce situation. They do not go running after those women to capture their despondent lives. Had they done that, it would have diluted the topic and wouldn’t have presented an unbiased version of divorce done the Iranian style.