The Marriage Project

“Love can destroy your life, but thanks to it you can find the courage to cross the frontiers of existence!” These are the last words that Atieh Attarzadeh, the co-director of the film, will have heard from the mouth of her ex-husband, who she never saw again, and who was committed, after their separation, to a psychiatric hospital. Mental illness, the ultimate stigma of our society, therefore takes for her the form of a mystery that she tries to unravel through this film. Accompanied by Hesam Eslami, she crosses the doors of Ehsan House, a psychiatric centre in Tehran which has implemented a revolutionary project: allowing marriage between its patients. The film follows the day-to-day of these women and men in search of love, and who will have to face the prejudices of a traditionalist society. Madness, love, and hope are interwoven in this film, which alternates between anthropological observation and diary, to give us a heartbreaking account of personal relationships. (Visions du Réel)