Woman's Game
This comedy tackles the issue of women’s rights in Iran from an interesting angle — football is the focus. Women are banned from all football matches in Iran, but many still try to get in by disguising themselves as boys. Offside tracks the fate of six young women, at the Iran-Bahrain World Cup qualifier, whose disguises are spotted by the soldiers. They are penned up outside the stadium for the duration of the match.
A witty verbal battle with their captors ensues, punctuated by the shouts and cheers of a match which, frustratingly, neither they nor the audience can see. The ruses the women use to escape create some truly comic moments, making the absurdity of gender segregation very clear. The stadium, coursing with testosterone, might well seem to corrupt that fragile female innocence. Yet these women are feisty and clever, easily a match for their male captors.
Shot in real time, much of it on the day of the actual match, and using nonprofessional actors, Offside aims to be a true depiction of typical events. Yet the dialogue can at times be lacklustre as a result, cadences frustratingly falling in the same way.
8th Jun 2006