Mum on the run: Shayda (Zar Amir Ebrahimi) with Mona (Selina Zahednia). Photo / Jane Zhang
Mum on the run: Shayda (Zar Amir Ebrahimi) with Mona (Selina Zahednia). Photo / Jane Zhang
Shayda is the hard-hitting story of an Iranian mother living with her young daughter in a Melbourne women’s shelter as she attempts to divorce and escape her abusive husband. Executive-produced by Cate Blanchett, it’s the assured feature debut of Iranian-born Australian film-maker Noora Niasari, who dramatises her own childhood experiencewith often painful authenticity.
Shayda (Zar Amir Ebrahimi) and her medical-student husband arrived as immigrants in Australia several years before. A decade on, she has finally been able to flee the relationship, taking with her meek little Farsi-speaking Mona (Selina Zahednia, who does well with a difficult role). But as the family court hands down decisions that threaten their wellbeing, Shayda fears her estranged partner will kidnap their child.
We don’t often see Iranian family dramas set outside of Tehran or Paris, so it’s interesting to watch a story told from inside the protective walls of an Australian public service. Australian actress Leah Purcell (The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart) is a comforting presence as Joyce, Shayda’s social worker and firm hand through the crisis.
The shelter’s other residents come from a variety of cultures and initially their “foreignness” contributes to Shayda and Mona feeling more isolated. But Shayda’s situation is all the more frightening because of traditional Persian expectations in her Australian community and from her family in Iran. She is far from home, yet if she returns she’ll lose everything.
There are echoes of 2020′s superb Irish drama Herself in this tale of a mum on the run with her daughter. Shayda isn’t quite as affecting, although every scene with a male character has the viewer on tenterhooks. Occasionally, the symbolism feels a little on the nose – Shayda cuts her hair, goes dancing in a sequined mini-dress (to the song Everybody’s Free) and the story takes place during the Iranian New Year, a season of renewal and rebirth.
But it’s pure of heart, gently acted and devastatingly real.
Shayda, directed by Noora Niasari, is in cinemas now.
