Sometimes it’s the littlest details that reveal the level of care and attention layered into a film. Like the Blossom-like floral hat worn by Selina Zahednia’s young Mona in Melbourne International Film Festival opener Shayda, which gently places us in a specific moment, even if you blink and miss the title card announcing that it’s 1995.
In one of the film’s many quietly devastating moments of heart-aching restraint, we hear via a disembodied voice over the phone that, once again, the system has let them down. Hossein, despite the abuse he has meted out to Shayda, and the impact that has had on Mona’s tender heart, will be allowed weekend access despite being banned from calling her on the phone. Shayda is also warned that divorcing him could leave them penniless because of her tentative visa circumstances. Nor can she study psychology, as she has long dreamed of doing.
