The Circle

In a hospital waiting room a woman learns her daughter, Solmaz Gholami, has just given birth. The ultrasound test had prepared the family for a boy. The baby, it turns out, is a girl. The joy the mother anticipated turns to terror for she knows her son-in-law’s family will abandon her daughter. The old woman flees as the in-laws arrive. On the crowded streets of Tehran – a place where women are not permitted to stay out on their own or smoke in public – two women are also on the run. Arezou and Nargess have just been granted temporary leave from prison but they have no plans to return. They manage to scrounge together enough money for the bus trip to Nargess’ hometown, but she lacks proper identification, and the police are searching everyone at the station.