After consulting with his relatives a 35-year-old father approves the marriage of his 14-year-old daughter. As individuals with differing perspectives his family grapple with the decision.
Alireza is consenting to the marriage of his daughter, Asal, even though she is just 14 and in the ninth grade. He has consulted with his relatives and each has their own opinion but to most of them underaged marriage is not an ideal option. There are however many factors for them to consider: Alireza, divorced recently, has financial problems and is living at his workplace. There’s concern about the potential for Asal to pursue relationships with boys outside of islamic marriage and, on top of this, the suitor seems like a good candidate. Asal herself doesn't argue the decision as she has reasons of her own to pursue the marriage. As the story unfolds we investigate a family’s attitudes and perspectives as they reconcile an imminent underage marriage.
About Filmmaker
Bio:
Born in 1990, Mashhad, Iran. She is a MA student at NFTS; and a BA alumna from Tehran University of Art. Since 2016- when she ranked 1st among more than 150,000 participants in Iranian Art Konkur (national university entrance exam) - she is a member of Iran's National Elites Foundation.
She concerns about children's and women's rights; Issues like child marriage, child abuse, neglect, or violence by parents, rape, women-against-women, and social inequalities.
Her statement about The Doll:
I wish it was otherwise.
Living in a patriarchal society for years has shaped my outlook as a filmmaker; lots of inequalities due to being female, being a second-class citizen as well as the tough feeling of being the property of a man. These are the important issues that I’m going to criticize through my films to build a better future for the generations to come.
According to the official statistics of the Vice President, every year there are 30,000 marriages held with underage girls in Iran. In 'The Doll' I have tried to depict the dramatic situation of a teenage girl’s future in her father’s hands. In this case, though satisfied with her father's decision, Asal has reasons of her own to pursue the marriage.
When I completed the research phase, although I realized the story would require a lot of interviews with individual family members, I couldn’t let it get away.
There are lots of teenage girls in similar or even worse situations in Iran that I might help with this movie; when I was editing the film news spread of Romina, a 14-year-old girl who was violently murdered in her sleep by her own father because she was having a relationship with a boy. Soon after, in December 2020, Ronak, who had married at age 14 only the year before set herself on fire after constant arguments with her husband, ending her life. Asal, and many like her, are still alive but their future is cloaked in shadow.
