Golshifteh to Le Figaro: My country is full of contradictions
In her recent interview with Madame - a magazine supplement to the French newspaper Le Figaro, covering fashion and feminist topics - Golshifteh Farahani says she decided to leave Iran the day the Iranian Ministry of Islamic Guidance banned her from leaving Iran to audition for a film in London: "Iranian authorities did not like my acting in the Ridley Scott's Body of Lies. I was condemned for not wearing Hijab on the screen and being part of an American production." She used the first opportunity to escape, taking advantage of a loophole in Iran's border control system.
Golshifteh was born in 1983, in the midst of Iran-Iraq war, into a family of intellectuals bohemians. That day, her father was unable to hold her in his arms because he was on the run from Iran's secret police: "My father was originally an opponent of the Shah before he became an opponent of the Ayatollah."
Golshifteh's father is an actor and director. Her mother is a painter who studied fine arts in Strasbourg. Her parents left Iran in 1978 but returned as soon as Shah's regime fell, to catch the short-lived "taste of freedom." Golshifteh remembers things changed: "You learn to cope with situations. On surface you pray and do not drink alcohol or listen to rock music, but in reality my brothers and I threw many parties! If the police intervened, we had a choice between receiving punitive lashes and being fined. So we paid the fine!"
"My country is full of contradictions"
Golshifteh likes to talk about paradoxes and subtleties of everyday life in Iran: "If you wanted to swim naked, you entered the water fully dressed and then undressed once you are submerged. I've done that a hundred times. I just needed a friend to bring me dry clothes... And Hijab? Just wear it but it does not hide all the hair. It also sometimes falls! It is a traditional costume for many women like me who are not believers. I know it is difficult to understand. My country is full of contradictions. The Iranian government finances a film and at the last minute, bans its release! I could have stayed but I would not have been allowed to work the way I wanted. When a regime asks an actress to hide her hair and body, I think she should leave."
Golshifteh tries on dresses at Gucci and Valentino. In her country, Golshifteh was a star. "She was Iran's Liz Taylor," says her friend, director Marjane Satrapi, who also recruited Golshifteh for Satrapi's film Chicken with Plums.
Farahani says exile is like black hole: "It is to lose everything, like a small death!" Carrying her huge traveling bag, Golshifteh says in a sweet Farsi accent, and a serious and radical look: "I am still a nomad on the run from temporary home to temporary home, just luxurious ones." When she is in Paris, she lives with her friend writer Jean-Claude Carrière - screenwriter of Atiq Rahimi's film "The Patience Stone." She was recently in Kurdistan for a film shoot, and will soon fly to Rome and then to Los Angeles to work on a theater project (see link here). "The exile can not be all bad: I recreated a family of friends in every city!" Golshifteh says.
Related to Golshifteh Farahani:
- Neshat, Golshifteh, Kiarostami and Panahi in International film festivals
- Hot pictures & videos: From Golshifteh to French kiss in Iranian elevator
- Golshifteh Farahani: My parents are being held hostage in Iran!
- Golshifteh Farahani appears naked again in controversial new movie (video)
- Golshifteh Farahani in Vogue Paris
- Golshifteh Farahani in "Rumi's Kimia" by Mehrjui
- Golshifteh Farahani stars in films by Roland Joffé and Hiner Saleem
- Golshifteh Farahani in defense of Jafar Pahani
- Golshifteh Farahani's new song about "prince of my dreams"
