The Iranian film, Chess Of The Wind (1976) is initially reminiscent of a Anton Chekov short story, as it observes the fall-out from a matriarch’s death and the remaining family members in the one house, circling around the prospect of her inheritance. The daughter Lady Aghdas (Fakhri Khorvash) is in a wooden wheelchair, looks pale and sickly, and is aware of the prospect of betrayal. Her step-father is a sleazy authoritarian, looking to take over the house, there are two brothers who were taken in by the family, and one of them has proposed to Aghdas who remains suspicious of his intentions. Aghdas only trusts her servant, Kanizak ( Shohreh Aghdashloo), though there is something more in their relationship.
And then the film slowly develops and shifts into other registers – noir, mystery, possibly the supernatural, shades of horror. A nightmare is explained about being buried alive and the house interior becomes this nightmare; baroque interiors turning orange, a stifling atmosphere of fear and expanding violence.
Attention is paid to the interiors of this substantial house, the carpets and chairs, the meals prepared and served. The interest in trinkets and ornamental objects. Then the split between class and social strata as the wealthy inhabitants plot around keeping money and status, and the recurring cutaways to the poorer women washing clothes and gossiping about their children who are in their employ.
Amazing to know that the film was banned by the Iranian government upon release, lost and forgotten for decades until a film print was discovered, smuggled out and restored with the help of the World Cinema Foundation Project. Available to stream on SBS On Demand. Shout out to Lauren Jane Salt whose review inspired me to seek it out.
VHS Tracking 