The Persian Version (2023) is an intergenerational family comedy-drama written and directed by Maryam Kehsavarz.
The full-length feature spans from the 1960s in America to the 2000s in Jersey and New York City. The story centers on Leila (Layla Mohammadi), a twenty-something and the only girl in an Iranian family of eight brothers, and her mother, Shireen (Niousha Noor). They are at odds again as the family gathers to support their father during heart transplant surgery. When a secret is revealed, their fraught relationship is forever changed. Leila is seen from childhood to young adulthood, often wearing popular clothes from the ‘80s to the ‘00s, with long dark hair. In passages about her youth, Shireen is seen in Iran in folk dresses, and in business suits with shoulder pads in the ‘80s and ‘90s, also with long dark hair.
Regarding Leila’s queerness, we see in one of the opening sequences an awkward meeting with her ex-wife, Elena (Mia Foo), where she tries to hide from her by wearing a gorilla mask in a bodega. While she loved her, her family’s disdain for same-sex marriages contributed to their divorce (but Leila admits it was not the only thing, as her ambitions as a director also got in the way). On Halloween, Leila has a one-night stand with Max (Tom Byrne), an actor playing Hedwig on Broadway, which leads to a pregnancy. Though she insists she is still a lesbian, she does go on dates with Max and it is clear there is still an attraction there.
The Persian Version won the Audience Award at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.
Writer/director Maryam Kehsavarz is openly bi, and based the story elements of the film on the life events of herself and her mother.