Discussion questions for The Day I Became A Woman (Marziyeh Meshkini, 2001)
- Discuss what the names of the three major female characters (Havva, Ahoo and Houra) signify in the film. Make a comparison between these three characters: In what way(s) are they different from one another? What do they have in common?
- Why do you think the director shot the film in Kish Island? What could the island signify as a setting? How does it contribute to our understanding of the women’s situation in the story?
- Find symbols of confinement in each tale and comment on them.
- Find example(s) of how women interiorize male domination in the first tale.
- Women cycling and men riding a horse form a binary opposition in the film. What does this opposition signify?
- What does each group of men trying to stop Ahoo signify about the context in which she lives?
- What does the bicycle race symbolize in the film?
- What do you think the director could be telling us by depicting the boys on the beach? Could their game be a metaphor?
- Why do you think the old woman in the third tale is on a shopping spree? What message could the director be conveying through this spree?
- Why does the old woman call the transparent teapot a shameless teapot?
- The old woman cannot remember what the last knot on her fingers is for. What do you think it is for?
- Identify some major themes in the film and comment on them.
- In what way(s) do you think the film is different from Hollywood films?
- In your view, is Meshkini an activist? Why? Why not?
