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Rosewater

Rosewater

Movie · 2014 · 8 people

Jon Stewart made his debut as a feature film writer and director with Rosewater, a 2014 American political drama. It is adapted from Then They Came for Me, the memoir by Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari and Aimee Molloy.

Bahari, based in London, travels to Tehran on what is meant to be a brief assignment covering Iran's 2009 presidential election, leaving his pregnant fiancée behind. In the turmoil that follows the vote he is arrested and held for over a hundred days in one of the country's most feared prisons. Ironically, part of the 'evidence' used to accuse him of espionage is an interview he gave to The Daily Show, the satirical program hosted by Stewart, which Iranian authorities presented as proof that he was in contact with an American spy. Throughout his interrogation his fate rests in the hands of a man he knows only by the scent of rosewater.

Gael García Bernal portrays Bahari, with Kim Bodnia, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Haluk Bilginer and Numan Acar among the cast. The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in August 2014 and opened in theaters that November. Reviews were generally positive, but it performed poorly at the box office, and Iran's state television accused Stewart of being funded by Zionists and working with the CIA.

DirectorJon Stewart

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Haluk Bilginer Haluk Bilginer Actor · 72 years old Baba Akbar Numan Acar Numan Acar Film actor · 52 years old Rahim Dimitri Leonidas Gael García Bernal Golshifteh Farahani Kim Bodnia Shohreh Aghdashloo Andrew Gower

Titles sharing this cast

Through different eyes

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

As you might expect from a comedian's first film as director, Rosewater is strongest when it leans on irony: a comedy-show interview presented as evidence of espionage sums up the absurd logic the film is about all by itself. Yet Stewart is hesitant to turn that irony into form. Defining the interrogator by a smell alone is a rich sensory starting point; in my view the script abandons it for the familiar beats of the prison drama. Staging the interrogations as a two-hander keeps the tension alive, but there are few bold ideas in the editing or camerawork. An honest, tidy debut, then, though too safe for anyone looking for a distinctive film language.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

What makes Rosewater worthwhile is that it shows, through a single life, how journalism became a hazard after Iran's 2009 election. Bahari's story describes a climate in which a reporter's contacts, even a comedy show he appeared on, could be treated as grounds for suspicion. The film itself did not stay outside that tension: Iranian state television's accusation against Stewart shows the strain it depicts carrying on beyond the screen. Because it is based on a memoir, the events are real; still, it is better read as one journalist's testimony than as a portrait of an entire society.

Family Viewer Asks whether the whole household can watch it; cares about humour and heart.

This may be too heavy for a family evening. Its subject is detention, prison and long interrogations, so it is not one for young children. Watched with high-school-age teenagers, it can open a good conversation about press freedom and the price of reporting. Being the story of a man who left a pregnant fiancée behind also gives it a strong emotional side for adults.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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