CHESS OF THE WIND
Starring:
Fakhri Khorvash
Mohammad Ali Keshavarz Akbar Zanjanpour
Hamid Ta'ati Aghajan Rafii
Introducing: Shohreh Aghdashloo Shahram Golchin
Cameraman: Farrokh Majidi
Costum designer: Manouchehr Safarzadeh Set designer: Houri Etesaam
Composer: Sheyda Gharachedaghi
Editor: Abbas Ganjavi
Director of photography: Houshang Baharlou
Producer: Bahman Farmanara
Writer and director: Mohammad Reza Aslani
"Competition in increasing worldly gains diverts you.
"Until you visit the graveyards.
"And visit the graves.
"No, indeed,
"but soon you shall know.
"No, no.
"Yes, you shall know.
"Yes, you shall know." Quran 102: 1-3
My dear Hadji...
Within life's caravanserai
What brief security have I
When momently the bell doth cry
'Bind on your loads, the hour is nigh!'
Blessed be thee.
Help yourself!
With your permission.
Get moving!
Good morning.
Forgive my recklessness.
It's been a while since your mother's passing.
Maybe you should come out of the mourning dress.
Of course, I am no one to tell you how to dress.
Before...
It won't look good if we postpone our marriage.
Especially now that you have consented to this holy vow.
I know.
After all, I'm nothing but your humble servant.
Get out, boy!
My lady, don't forget to watch Hadji Amoo.
Hadji Amoo,
what plots have they been digging for each other?
Ramazan has taught her how to use the flail.
Yes.
Must have been hard to teach.
Today he sent for her tailor.
He has chosen a good flail.
What clothes!
Are you keeping an eye on things?
Bastard!
Praise the Lord.
The food is ready.
In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
Get lost!
Pardon?
What's the problem?
It's you.
Just take a look at yourself.
And then you'll know.
Well...
I'm...
It has always been like this.
Don't talk of "always".
"Always" is something for God.
Pardon?
From now on,
either you come to dinner properly dressed or else...
Hadji Agha,
at least wait until my late mother's mourning period is over.
Don't talk about what's proper.
If you really had any respect for the dead,
you should have waited before wanting to sleep with someone.
Hadji Amoo!
What's your problem?
To hell with you!
Shut up!
Hadji Amoo, don't forget she's in mourning.
Don't interfere, boy!
Flirt with this crippled broad as you like,
but don't get carried away.
God be my witness, I haven't even looked into her eyes.
But you have taken a deep look into her possessions.
God forbid!
Get the hell out of here, you reptile!
Me, Hadji Amoo?
I don't want to see you hanging around that slut.
I didn't raise you two bastards to steal my things.
Do I have to remind you about your life when you were orphans?
Now get the hell out!
Bugger off!
Can't stop worrying about my daughter. I have tied her to the door.
Have you left anything for her to eat?
All I had was a cube of sugar.
Don't you have any decent neighbours to leave the child with?
I couldn't ask them to keep her for me again.
What's wrong with you?
She has inherited the old lady's temper.
I'm very tired.
They say your old lady was a real beauty.
I just got the whipping from her.
She was so beautiful that Atabak got her from her father,
instead of the money her father owed him but couldn't pay back.
Her father died of grief.
Atabak is madly in love with her.
The old lady knew how to handle Atabak. He perished after five years.
They say he had cancer.
He left everything to the lady and her daughter, Aghdas.
Atabak was such a tyrant!
Old Lady had no mercy on his children or his others wives.
Breathe!
You shouldn't leave the bed.
Doctor, the lady asks me to hit her temple with a hammer.
How is that possible?
Yes, it's very strange.
A blow to the temple can easily kill.
What nonsense!
To ward off the evil eye.
Get out of here, you wretched girl!
Be calm, my dear, be calm.
Think of the holy things.
And not of the people.
I'd also prescribe an opiate.
- Isn't it enough? - No, it's fine.
Have you ever thought of the scandal?
Owning things adds to one's distinction.
I bet marrying Lady Aghdas will bring you lots of distinction.
My problem is Hadji Amoo.
Do you have any idea what he is up to?
He seems to have taken a particular interest in you,
Even if I get the inheritance,
what good is it if I can't touch it?
Cash it and we leave for the West.
Don't be naive.
We should turn the inheritance into property and rent it.
We can rent it to the English.
Just think about the prestige.
The steps might be too much for you, doctor.
If she's incurable you shouldn't trouble yourself to come back.
I beg to differ.
I'd recommend she leaves this house for some fresh air
It will do her good.
What a coincidence!
I also had the same idea.
We should have thrown her out ages ago.
I've kept her out of pity.
God forbid! After all, you are her stepfather.
You are almost like her father.
I am what I am.
Hadji.
You belong in the back room of a shop.
I don't need the fatherhood of a sterile man.
There's too much disrespect in his house.
Shut your mouth, woman!
Hadji Amoo!
You have no shame.
If you hadn't put a spell on my late mother...
you wouldn't be here now.
My marriage to your mother was temporary for one night.
Why don't you just die?
I beg you, show some respect to the people in the house.
This is my house.
Now don't you get carried away.
- You are the master. - Of course, I am.
Beat it!
Praise the Generous God!
Atabak's fortune, which belongs to my lady, has gone to these beggars.
Open it!
Please, my lady...
I don't want to be fired.
They're nothing.
You're mine.
The seals are faked.
With the same seals he forges the deeds.
Keep searching!
This is it.
The deed.
The deed to this house.
He has made himself the owner.
Dirty scoundrel!
Leave that!
Get lost!
Hadji Amoo!
Turn it off!
My lady, you should have confronted him earlier.
You're right.
If we allow him...
he'll do you real harm.
It's all my mother's fault.
She brought him into this house.
She has...
She's sold me to this man.
He killed my mother.
Killed her and now...
I won't let him...
I won't let him.
Thank you.
What if he throws me out?
If he does, you should file a complaint.
What rights do we have to complain?
We have no proof, nothing.
I heard the old lady was handy with the acid.
Yes, she learned it from Atabak.
We have to work like a dog.
And her new husband opened a jewellery shop too.
And you know what he was doing to the apprentice boys.
Squeezing the poor things dry.
Don't overdo it, sister.
I have heard Hadji knows witchcraft.
The jewellery shop was only a cover up.
You're going to miss your prayer.
You naughty girl!
- Do you think I can do it? - Yes.
- You should leave. - I'll stay.
What should we do now, my lady?
We should take him away. Yes, we should do that.
Shall we take him down to the cellar?
Take him!
We should put him in a large jar.
And pour acid in to dissolve him.
No, please my lady!
Help me!
He is heavy.
Put him inside that bottomless jar.
Acid.
No acid left.
- Get some from the shop. - Yes, madam.
You've hidden him to dodge paying my money?
It's as clear as day.
Believe me when I say there's no...
trace of him.
Would you be so kind to tell us when Hadji disappeared?
He hasn't returned since Tuesday evening when he left the house.
You mean since Tuesday evening nobody has seen him?
And you?
No, sir.
But I saw him myself on Thursday.
He was on his way home.
Apparently he was returning from visiting your late mother's grave.
What?
Are you sure?
Yes.
That's impossible.
It is obvious then that he is hiding somewhere.
Your honour, do you care for some refreshment?
What a pleasant surprise! Is that wine?
No, nitric acid!
Nitric acid?
It stinks!
Could he be hiding in one of these jars?
It's empty.
You are right, sir.
They were useful in the past when we had substantial goldsmith work.
Smells like a corpse, doesn't it?
Yes.
You have inherited a nice fortune.
It's yours for the asking.
You can't just refuse paying me.
Madam, if Hadji doesn't show up, we have to sell off his assets...
Sir...
You don't understand.
Everything you see here
I've inherited from my mother.
This has nothing to do with Hadji's debt.
You see, your honour.
I'm sure we can resolve this at the court.
It will cost a little though.
Of course, we'll do that.
Are they asking for their wages?
For what work?
What do we need workers for? Get rid of them.
You tell them.
Wait outside.
I was thinking that there is no profit in the goldsmith business anymore.
We should get into wine business.
We'll be better off just trading.
Two deals a year and we'll earn more than doing the job we do.
You've convinced me.
Fine, but you have to convince the others too.
You've become insolent, boy.
It's not insolence. It's my right.
Haven't you been paid your right?
If there was any money, get your share and go.
Give me the key.
Now you just need to pull the trigger.
- Won't it explode? - Shaban said it's safe.
But Ramazan wants to marry me.
Miss, if I may say so, you shouldn't believe everything he says.
Shaban said that we should watch that Ramazan.
Seems he's plotting something.
I'll report him to the police.
Why doesn't he get the acid? His uncle's body's still in the cellar.
I don't know.
It must be stinking by now.
Yes madam, the smell is so strong that one can't get close to the cellar.
We all have dust and dirt on us.
You see how that louse fired all our servants right after my mother's death?
He thought he owned the place.
As if it's his money.
Who has touched the chess board?
I don't know, miss.
Nobody has been in this room.
Now how am I going to continue my game with that old bastard?
Who killed him?
I wanted to finish it myself.
Do you think the commissar was serious about having seen that bastard?
I don't get it.
Is it possible?
Whom can I trust?
There's so much dust.
So much dust.
Soon it might cover us too.
What a strange dream I had.
Are you clean?
I dreamt I was in an orchard.
I was on this same wheelchair.
There were all types of people around.
It was as sunny as it could get.
Yet, no one had a shadow.
I think it was Ramazan who was pushing my chair.
Then a foreign woman appeared.
Wearing a strange hat, she stepped forward.
And all of sudden she greeted me.
I asked myself, who's she?
Suddenly she pulled out
a small pistol.
Exactly like this one.
And she shot me in the chest.
After shooting...
she ran away.
The orchard became deserted.
Then the police arrived.
They arrested me and Ramazan.
No matter how much I pleaded I was the one who was shot at...
they took me to the police station.
They took me to a room.
Which looked like a cellar.
With just one tiny hole to the outside.
Afraid as I was, I kept staring at the hole.
I saw dust was pouring in from it.
And then more dust.
I looked...
they were filling up the hole.
What dust!
It took me a while to realise it was my grave that they were filling.
And I was dead.
I awoke in fright.
May God forgive me.
They say women's dreams are contrary.
Come.
I wish...
Here, to take you.
They would sing... and dance for us.
That's enough!
If Hadji hadn't invited us, we would have gone to sleep hungry tonight.
Hadji?
Didn't you bring them here?
No, madam, they came on their own.
No, it was Hadji who sent for us.
So many questions for a few pennies!
We saw him along the main street and he asked us to come entertain you.
- Did you see him? - No.
Go away now, get lost!
- Maybe he is still alive. - It must be his ghost.
Maybe it's the Nanny.
No.
Let's go.
The jars! The jars!
Which one was it?
I don't know.
They want to take away my son. He's just a boy.
It's new. They call it military service.
That's life. Not everybody's rich like Hadji.
Once he was the boss of the jewellers. Then he became the lady's servant.
I don't even have any sweets to give my son when they he leaves.
But look how he stole everything she had.
Handfuls of cash that he was stealing from the Lady's chest.
They say he also liked young boys.
I don't think the lady minded.
I've heard about that too. God forbid!
She used to watch them doing it and laugh her socks off.
God knows the things that my young boy is going through.
My lady...
They are causing you lots of trouble.
It would be an honour if you allow me and my sister to take care of you.
My sister has the highest regards for you.
Your many virtues are all she talks about.
A waste of your beauty...
- Oh, doctor! - Yes?
If a hammer
doesn't hit this part
it means that it won't kill?
What do you mean?
Where is your dignity?
Stop it, my lady!
Drink it up, child! It will cancel the spell.
Drink up because all around you are devils.
Drink up!
Why don't you bring the acid?
To pour on whom?
Acid?
Don't tell me you're behind all this.
Leave her alone.
It's not only your inheritance.
The fortune is for all of us.
Get out!
Get out, you murderer!
Go find that lout!
Calm down, my dear.
It must be a ghost.
Hasn't he died?
- God won't forgive you. - Let her be.
She's still alive.
With your permission.
Madam.
I hope you feel better.
Mr. Commissar. You think this house has no master?
God forbid, my lady. That's why I'm here.
It's very kind of you, Mr. Commissar.
- Your precious time... - Don't mention it.
Please tell me what you wanted to say.
Sir...
they are planning to kill me too
and steal my mother's inheritance.
Your honour, the problem is not this inconsiderable house...
Inconsiderable is your face!
The reason for bothering you is...
I want you to ban these two persons from entering this house again.
Your Honour, if you permit me, I'll go and visit the holy shrine.
Go on.
I have no say, young man.
It's the holy saint who should call upon you.
Go.
Get out!
Both of you!
You'll be better off in the bazaar.
Out!
Get out!
- You murderers! - My lady...
Please calm down.
Please tell me:
have you seen Hadji Amoo...
after that...
last time?
I...
I don't know.
I don't know what I saw.
No, I haven't seen him.
I just know, Mr. Commissar that...
these two have their eyes on me, my maid,
this house,
and my property.
That's all.
Your Honour, a small corner of my shop is all I need from this world.
I'll be less than a dog if I set foot in this house again.
But it'll be her responsibility.
A woman, alone, in such a big house.
If her well being is our responsibility, her safety is yours.
I can pray at the holy shrine
for her to be cured.
Out!
Get out, you murderers!
The skin of my father's back has peeled off.
It has become like the skin of a tree.
They whipped him very hard.
His eyes had popped out of pain. He couldn't see anymore.
A dead lamb has a healthier body.
They didn't even give him a drop of water.
He was cocky. Otherwise, one doesn't confront the police.
I sat by his side.
Just looked at him.
He started to breathe heavily, burning in fever.
I was only 6. Who would believe it?
There, too, there was nothing but whipping.
Go on a pilgrimage to Saint Zahra's shrine. Your cure is in her hands.
I don't mean to be rude...
but would you please ask my lady to allow me to go and perform my vow?
- Which vow? - Let her go.
It's a sin to delay a vow.
Which vow?
For your health.
Let this no-good girl go.
I'll go to Shah Abdol-Azim's.
And I'll stay overnight at a relative's.
Then I'll come back.
You, say something, please!
What should I say?
I raised you and now I'll take care of you.
You?
Oh, he is already a man!
Nanny!
Shaban!
Shaban! Shaban!
Shaban!
So you say everything is sorted now?
Of course.
As for me, they think I've been taking refuge in the shrine.
And they think you're in Shah Abdol-Azim.
Who else is left?
Ramazan.
See, they are all mine now.
And you are my special servant.
No...your wife.
You're such an idiot!
Do you really think we can keep everything that is left?
What else do you have in mind?
You're always here.
You can be my personal servant.
I'll marry someone from a rich family.
Many things can be done.
But...
Shaban...
Oh, my God!
This huge house,
a jewellery business and a shambling property.
What good are they to us?
It's time to open factories.
- For you... - Why all this worrying?
Today, it is factory owners who run the world.
Read the newspapers.
But you can't read.
It's not possible to run a factory single-handedly.
With a thousand workers under you,
you'll become a king.
You were all mistaken.
My brother was a fool for wanting to switch to trading.
And you're a fool for thinking falling in love with you will ease things.
Move away, you swine!
Get lost!
What?
Get lost now!
Take care of the house.
Watch it.
All right?
Translation: Ehsan Khoshbakht Subtitling: L'Immagine Ritrovata