The House Is Black

Perhaps because no woman before me took steps toward breaking the shackles binding women’s hands and feet, and because I am the first to do so, they have made such a controversy out of me.

The film’s sonic landscape intertwines with [the] emotional tension. The cawing of ravens and the hooting of owls—creatures of the night—do not aim for realism; instead, they amplify the somber tone of the poem. It becomes clear that the layers of the film are not intended to be direct translations of one another. Paired with an editing style that moves between repetition, stillness, and moments of rapid, jarring cuts, the film avoids settling into a single rhythm or a fixed meaning. Instead, it offers a constantly evolving perspective that mirrors the complexity of the lives depicted on screen.

Constructed as a collage of Farrokzhad’s poetry, verses from the Quran, and factual interjections delivered by a second speaker, the voice-over develops its own rhythm, shaped by the interplay of voices and shifting emotional tones. In one particularly poignant moment, the poetic narrator (the filmmaker herself) reflects that if she “were a dove”, she would seek refuge in the desert, having “seen misery and wickedness on earth”. The metaphorical desert is already established in the film as the colony’s setting, creating a link between the spoken word and the visual landscape. Through this connection, the residents become associated with the dove, a symbol of peace and freedom.