Inversion review – compelling Iranian drama

Heavy, low-hanging clouds of pollution loom over Behnam Behzadi’s low-key Tehran-set drama. The dynamic Sahar Dolatshahi is Niloofar, an independent business owner and city singleton, lumped with responsibility for her ailing mother (Shirin Yazdanbakhsh). Dolatshahi is compelling as a woman torn between familial duty and self-determination, coming alive in one particular clothes-shop confrontation. One caveat: the constant shrill ring of mobile phones, a distracting narrative device that pushes the plot along while pulling the viewer out.