Circumstance

102 votes and 29 Reviews

Rotten Tomatoes® Score
86% 67%

Release Date: October 7, 2011 (limited)

On DVD/VOD: December 13, 2011

1h 47m | Drama

In a modern Iran rarely witnessed by outsiders: rife with playfulness and peril, two vivacious teenage girls—wealthy Atafeh (Nikohl Boosheri) and orphaned Shireen (Sarah Kazemy)—are discovering their burgeoning sexuality. Like 16 year-old girls anywhere, they are full of wild yearnings and imaginative fantasies. And while the simplest things—swimming, singing, becoming who they dream of being—are often disallowed to them, they take risks every day to lead their own lives.

But when Atafeh's troubled brother, Mehran (Reza Sixo Safai), suddenly returns home from drug rehab, their private world is threatened. Looking to start his life anew, Mehran joins the Morality Police, a volunteer force that pursues those who break the country's strict cultural laws. Attracted to Shireen and dismayed by her love for Atafeh, Mehran begins an unsettling and shadowy campaign of spying on his own family. As he ramps up his surveillance, the consequences ensnare them all in a complicated web of desire and betrayal that will unravel their bonds and compel them each to make starkly different decisions.