Analysis of Men and Masculinity in Iranian Cinema

20 Fingers

20 Fingers tells the story of the development of the relationship between Mania and Bijan. This film is shot in a dogma style on DV format and consists of 7 scenes, which are all single long takes with only two actors. The scenes chart the development of the relationship between Mania and Bijan, exploring different elements of the male/female relationships from their infancy.

The dialogue heavy script begins in a dark car, driving through the countryside, and starts with the couple of the kinds of things young couples talk about. As the scene progresses they become more intimate, until it becomes apparent that the man (Bijan) assaults Mania, in order to check her virginity, and as such breaks her hymen. She is upset as to how she will explain this to her parents, and he justifies it by saying that it was something that he needed to be certain about, being the highly conservative character that he is.

The next scene takes place in a cable car, and the couple have an argument, based on the previous evening, where Mania had danced with another man in at a party the previous evening. Here Bijan expresses jealousy and so demonstrates the start of the frays in their relationship.

The third scene is that of an argument, where the couple are riding on a bike, and have quite a heated argument, where Bijan disapproves of Mania’s desire to have an abortion, and this quickly becomes a very heated played out in the street.

The next scene is a discussion between the couple about infidelity, and the ability of a couple that Mania knows to deal with the infidelity of the woman in the relationship. By this point it is clear that Mania is unhappy and is pushing the boundaries ordinarily expected for a woman. Bijan in unable to deal with her notion that the woman may have been justified due to lack of attention from the man.

In the following scene, which takes place in a restaurant, the couple discuss gender, and Mania’s desire to have been a boy when she was younger. Thus the couple explore the possibility of the others gender.

And the final two scenes, show the deterioration of the relationship through squabbling and bickering in regards to other male family friends who Mania has been seeing. Eventually they arrive to a point where Mania reveals that she has been sleeping with a woman, and so marks the end of their relationship.