Attention Must Be Paid

THE SALESMAN (B+) - Iranian master Asghar Farhadi comes to Earth a bit -- just a bit -- and makes a very good movie after a string of great ones.

Farhadi made the best movie of 2011, "A Separation," his first mainstream success in America, the first of a series of harrowing relationship movies. He followed it up with "The Past," a slow-burn of a modern-family mystery starring Berenice Bejo and involving another take on divorce. Since then, two of his previous films have been released here, the gorgeous gone-girl saga "About Elly" in 2015, and the bird's-eye view of domestic squabbling, "Fireworks Wednesday" last year.  Both of the latter films starred Taraneh Aladoosti, who returns in this latest film to star as one half of a couple who are staging a production of "Death of a Salesman" while coping with makeshift housing that seems to be cursed.

"The Salesman" is another slow-simmering take on marriage, with Aladoosti's Rana struggling to find the connection with her husband, Emad (Shabab Hosseini, who also starred in "Elly"), both onstage -- as Willy and Linda Loman -- and off. The opening scene finds them fleeing their apartment complex, which is in danger of collapsing. Metaphor noted.

A fellow cast member does them a favor and puts them up in one of his empty apartment units in a rundown section of town. The place comes with not only a roomful of possessions left behind by the previous tenant, but the bad vibes she left behind, too. She apparently was a woman with a good deal of gentleman callers, and eventually one of them comes calling and disturbs Rana. Whether he assaulted her or merely startled her is not clear. What is obvious is that Iranian culture inhibits any rational avenue for redress through the criminal justice system -- and that Emad, an otherwise mild-mannered teacher, is intent on avenging the incident. (Farhadi's films can often be characterized as left-field procedurals.)

Farhadi takes his time with the setup, and the final third involves a showdown with the apparent offender, a figure more pathetic than menacing. When it seems that Emad may be going too far in his mission, the disappointment on Rana's face speaks volumes. That final confrontation is painfully drawn out, and Farhadi dabbles in haunted-house and Batman-villain tropes, cleverly subverting them.

What this has to do with Willy Loman is not wholly apparent, although another smart twist gives an unexpected character the pathetic qualities of the famous salesman. Rana, however, could not be less like Linda Loman, refusing to indulge or enable her macho husband.

Aladoosti is a beautiful woman, but her talent is more than skin deep; in every role, she communicates volumes with her eyes, and here, she brings incredible subtlety to a role that easily could have descended into caricature. Rana could easily overplay the victim card; but in Tehran, it wouldn't do her much good anyway.