Women Without Men By Shirin Neshat: An Analysis

Shirin Neshat, an Iranian woman artist living in exile, strongly advocates that a woman represents a country. Beginning with Iran’s 1953 coup d’etat to the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and finishing with Iran’s 2009 Green Party movement. Women have been at the forefront of change. Neshat has stated, “I found the subject of Iranian woman extremely interesting. In the way that the woman of Iran historically seem to embody the political transformation (Neshat, TEDWomen).” Which can be seen in the film Women Without Men, directed by Neshat, where four women are struggling and transforming with the political change in Iran. Furthermore, in Neshat’s art Women of Allah, Neshat portrays how the Revolution of 1979 has affected the veiled portrayal of
women. Given these points, women are once again symbolic figures for the cry for democracy in Iran’s Green Movement. Either in art or in the real world, women are the embodiment of the current issues facing their country. Even though historically women have been suppressed, Shirin Neshat artistically uses the image of the Iranian woman as the most effective way to represent her countries political issues (Neshat, TEDWomen).
In Shirin Neshat’s movie Women Without Men, four women struggle to find their internal peace in the politically changing environment of Iran. The movie is set in Iran’s 1953 Coup d’etat, a historical event that led to the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Before explaining the women’s significance in the film, one has to understand the significance of the event that they are involved in. Only then can one fully encapsulate the meanings and representations each women holds in the movie. More importantly, it is important to know this historical moment, especially since this event lead to the fall of democracy in Iran. Democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh wanted to change Iran. His political vision for Iran focused on “two major causes: strict constitutionalism at home and an equally strict policy of ‘negative equilibrium’ abroad to assure independence from foreign domination [(Abrahamian, History 114) Balaghi, 2013].” In other words, his plan was to separate Iran from foreign powers to make itself independent. One way Mossadegh was going to do so was to gain control over Iranian oil. He viewed oil as a beneficial economic source for the people of Iran. Therefore to gain control over this natural source “Mossadegh passed a bill to nationalize Iranian oil in 1951 (Balaghi, 2013).” However, this change came with an enemy. “At the time, sixty percent of the petrol consumed in the Western world came from Iran (Neshat, Azari 2009).” By nationalizing the Iranian oil the British were going to lose all control of it. For the British, the primary objective of the coup against the democratically elected government of Iran was the preservation of their control over Iranian oil resources (Balaghi, 2013). It was not just the British that were involved in the struggle to control Iran. The United States also took a part in the Coup. “In 1953 the United States played a significant role in orchestrating the overthrow of Iran’s popular prime minister, Mohammed Mossadegh. The Eisenhower administration believed his actions were justified for strategic reasons’ but the coup was clearly a setback for Iran’s political development (Balaghi, 2013).” Through operation AJAX the U.S. was able to overthrow Mossadegh with the help of the Shah and appointed general Zahedi as the new prime minister of Iran. With all this being said, Iran was going through obvious political changes because of foreign involvement.
This can be seen throughout the movie Women Without Men. This film is inspired by the novel of the same name written by Shahrnush Parispur. In the original, the novel followed the story of five women. However, due to the surrealism aspect of the book, one character had to be taken out. Therefore, the story follows the lives of four women. In a sense, the film is a compilation of four short stories combined together where each character is affected by politics and find refuge in a garden. “The women come from very different backgrounds, representing the different strata of Iranian society (Bresheeth,
2010).”
Zarin-Women Without Men-Official Trailer, Youtube (Photo Courtesy of IndiePixFilms)

At the very bottom is Zarin, a young prostitute, her character is physically the most wounded of all. Throughout the film the other female characters are trying to save her but ultimately she was too sick to be healed. In the middle-class, are friends Munis and Faezeh, each represent the different points-of-view of society. Munis is considered unruly according to her brother because she is unwilling to marry. Rather than marry, she focuses on political issues, since her brother does not let her leave she stays updated by listening to the radio. She later becomes involved by siding with those that defend Mossadegh. Munis friend, Faezeh, is the opposite of her: she is more traditional. Faezeh wants to marry—but not just anyone—she wants to marry Munis brother, who happens to be engaged to another woman.

As the story unfolds, Faezeh becomes more independent and confident in herself. To the point that, when Munis’ brother asked her to marry she declined. She could have taken the role of the second wife but saw herself worth more than just another woman. Lastly, is Fakhri, she is in the highest position of society. Fakhri is the general’s wife, however, she later divorces her husband when her old fling returns from the United States. Once Fakhri divorces she purchases a house and the orchard surrounding it.
Fakhri-Women Without Men-Official Trailer, Youtube (Photo Courtesy of IndiePixFilms)

Throughout the film the orchard is seen as a place of healing.
An escape from society. Also, as a place of exile. The garden is historically significant: from the Christian aspect, the garden of Eden was a place of peace and perfection. “A place devoid of illness, ageing, suffering or death, a sanctuary of life of all kinds (Bresheeth, 2010).” Originally the garden is just a place exile: separated from Iran and its politics. “In Iranian culture, the garden has also been regarded in political terms, suggesting ideas of ‘exile’, ‘independence’ and ‘freedom’ (Neshat, Azari 2009).” Later on, after Fakhri buys the orchard/garden, it becomes a refuge for the women. From the initial four women only three actually decide to stay in the house, located inside the garden. For Fakhri the garden is seen as independence: a place of self-restore after separating herself from her husband. For Faezeh it is exile: shockingly, through a twist of events Faezeh loses her virginity through a gang-rape. Since she is no longer considered “pure” and is too ashamed to go home, she goes to the garden to find shelter. Lastly, Zarin sees the garden as freedom: like Faezeh, Zarin goes to the garden to find shelter. It is also a freedom because she has escaped her life of prostitution. For both Faezeh and Zarin, the garden is also a place for new beginnings where Zarin can live a life where she is no longer being used but instead taken cared for; Faezeh finally finds her self-worth in who she is,
not on her virginity.
Munis falling off the building-Women Without Men-Official Trailer, Youtube (Photo Courtesy of IndiePixFilms)

The one character that did not stay at the garden was Munis. Her character is most involved with politics, making politics formulate as a fifth character in the story, Shirin Neshat intentionally made this directorial move. “I went as far as shaping Munis, one of the main characters of the film, as a political activist. So Through Munis, we follow the political development (Neshat, Azari 2009).” Munis has the most surreal story from the other three women. After her brother disconnects her radio, Munis tries to escape him by jumping off her building. Showing that death was the only way to escape the new tradition. Her brother barriers her in the backyard and tells no one because he did not want her death to delay his marriage. Surprisingly enough, Munis comes back to life and is dug out by her friend Faezeh. Since her brother did not care about her death, Munis leaves without saying a word. She heads directly to the only place where she can feel comfortable: next to a radio playing which happens to be at a bar—where only men reside. Through a series of events Munis becomes involved in the rioting in support for Mossadegh.

This movie shows the dramatic change of Iran through the portrayal of its women. Each individual character has her own significant character development/change but in the end it was all destroyed because of the political issues surrounding them. Even though Shirin only made Munis a political activist in order for the audience to follow the change in politics. The characters change also shows how drastically the politics is changing and how it is affecting the Iranian people. Almost like a chameleon changing colors with the environment, these women change as political issues change as well. For example, there was a moment in the garden that Zarin was finally healed but when political issues started to increase her health started to decrease. In the final scene, Fakhri hosts a party at her house, where her guests ask her to perform a song, as she performs her song. All the while Zarin is hidden in a room trying to survive but ultimately she takes her final breath. Everyone at the party, even Fakhri, were distracted by the entertainment of the party that they did not even notice Zarin had died. Zarin’s portrayal was as if to show that those in the lower portion of the strata have no chance to survive with the political change. Thus, instead of being cared for, the major population is distracted by something irrelevant, such as entertainment.

On the opposite side of the strata is Fakhri—the higher class. In the final scene soldiers bombard her house trying to find radicals—those that support the Prime Minister Mossadegh. Instead of Fakhri preventing the militant’s entrance, because of fear she lets them in. She then becomes a spectator, passively watching, as the troops devour her food with no respect to her or her guests. In the end, the guests and the troops start to talk to each other after accepting the fact the soldiers are not going to leave. In this representation, the troops are the imposing government—coup—and Fakhri and her higher class guests themselves, the higher class. The initially did not know what to do and instead of stopping/taking action against the troops they assimilated and complied with the change.