In an unidentified Middle Eastern country ravaged by war, a woman in her 30s tends to her husband, once a celebrated warrior, now left in a coma after getting a bullet in the neck. She struggles to get him the medicine he needs and the mullah has told her that her husband will be well, but the woman is exhausted by scavenging and praying.

She visits her aunt, a prostitute, who talks about the Persian myth of the patience stone, an object that will take on a person’s unhappiness and suffering and shield them from pain. This provokes the woman to start a one way dialogue with her unconscious husband, offloading her fears, anxieties, and confessions.

Centred on an intensely moving performance from renowned Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani, Atiq Rahimi’s adaptation of his own novel is a pertinent and poetic drama. (Notes By Michael Hayden.)

Don’t forget we now schedule weekly.