Writer/director Huseyn Mehrzad’s The Reptile is a harrowing examination of the bitterness of a broken marriage laid bare. The short drama begins with Leila (Golnoosh Ghahremani) nervously awaiting the earliest convenience at her local courthouse. Soon, she is called forward for her 9am appointment. Upon finally being granted an audience with the Judge (Farid Ghobadi), Leila begins a tirade. She wants out. Leila wants a divorce from her allegedly abusive husband, Amir (Mahdi Zaminpardaz). The patient judge presses her further, seeking the true cause for this request. Leila pleads relentlessly, stating she can no longer endure. Her parents opposed the marriage. But in her words, “It just happened.”
Now, at her wits’ end, Leila wishes to be cut loose. The trick is that she doesn’t want Amir to truly know that the divorce is in progress until it is, in fact, completed. The Judge shows Leila that this hasty execution and resolution of these divorce proceedings is never, ever, smooth or as simple as she may have imagined. You don’t just file for a separation; everything, all the pain and waste of the past, dissolves, and you move on to your happily ever after.
“Leila wants a divorce from her allegedly abusive husband, Amir. The patient judge presses her further…”
Still, Leila implores the court. Her father is sick, near death. She needs her dowry from the marriage to pay for the medical expenses and care; else her father shall not survive. In a heated exchange, the court beseeches Leila to bring her husband to the magistrate, and that they both attend counseling. Leila refuses and storms out with the paperwork.mAnd where does she go? Straight to a rendezvous with her estranged Amir. She declares to him she is done, dusted. There’s nothing left between them to warrant the charade to continue any further. She serves her rattled hubby, gives marching orders, and is gone.
A wash of distressed tones and a melancholic score, The Reptile feels like a form of cinematic sense memory. As if the torrid nature of broken hearts and subtle betrayals never really fades, their pain is universal.
"…a form of cinematic sense memory."
