There’s the initial temptation, particularly upon first glance from a Western viewer’s perspective, to view Iranian filmmaker Elahe Esmaili’s latest film The Doll as an indictment of the seemingly patriarchal implications of certain Islamic cultural traditions. But The Doll doesn’t serve a neatly wrapped up delineation of child marriage and women’s issues against a backdrop of systemic oppression and patriarchy. Instead, Esmaili’s film offers a nuanced and complex portrayal of a family caught between tradition, personal beliefs, and circumstance—and, frankly, it’s all the better for it.
In our email interview below, Esmaili talks about being inspired by the personal stories of those closest to her, her desire to be as non-judgmental as possible during her interviews with 35 year-old Alireza, 14 year-old Asal, and their family members, and her wish for others to see themselves in the film. Indeed, child marriage is an often-overlooked—or perhaps, more correctly, lesser known—issue in countries like Canada, US, and parts of the UK. “It happens around the globe, just with different setups, beliefs, reasons and cultures,” Esmaili says.
The Doll made its world premiere at the Hot Docs International Documentary Festival in Toronto earlier this year, and is currently making the festival rounds. As awards season looms on the horizon, Elahe Esmaili and The Doll are certainly ones to watch out for.
Before we get into The Doll, I wonder if you might tell us about your own filmmaking journey? Where did it all start for you?
I’m Elahe, 30 years old, from Iran. I finished my BA course in directing at Tehran University of Art last year and am now doing my MA course at National Film and Television School in the UK. For me filmmaking is a way to express my thoughts, feelings and moments through my art. Either feelings raised from concerns and issues like child marriage or grateful moments that carry emotions that you enjoy sharing. This desire drew me to filmmaking.
The Doll is a very layered and nuanced film that tackles intersecting issues of child marriage, women’s rights, and harmful patriarchal traditions. Where did the idea for the film come from? How did you find Asal and her story? What inspired you to spotlight Asal?
At some point, I found myself surrounded by these cases. Every couple of years one of the girls among my close relatives gets married very young. In many cases I have seen how many problems they are facing later in their family. My own sister got divorced because of a wrong marriage when she was 17. So It was always an important subject for me to explore and quest.
I heard Asal’s news through one of my relatives, and I started talking to them and the family members about them and then I found it a good case to make a documentary of, as it let me to explore the subject from different aspects of this issue.
It wasn’t a case that happened in a remote village that some father just because of financial issues is consenting to it. It was happening in a middle class family in a big city. It could prove how close this issue is to us. Some NGO, child activist or people when talking to them just think about child marriage [being] in remote poor areas and only by arranged marriage. Asal’s story shows us this issue is not a simple matter and is close to a wide variety of girls across the country(maybe region and world as well).
You’ve said previously that while you have your own judgments on the situation, the goal of The Doll is to be as impartial of a lens as possible, laying out the facts and the situation before the audience so that they may make their own judgements themselves. What are you hoping audiences will take away from watching this film? And how important was it for you to have this film made despite potential backlash and censorship?
For me, if the film helps families in a similar situation to ask them if the decision they are making is the best for their child, I have achieved my goal.
When I started to finally make the film, although I was told there’s a risk of censoring or putting me in trouble, I was truly feeling how much this issue is damaging, and how frequent it is. So I couldn’t be indifferent. Having that in mind and trying to protect myself as a filmmaker, I thought I will make it anyhow.
What’s most interesting to me is how complex Asal’s situation is: her own reasons for wanting to get married are often at odds (and even hidden) from Alireza, who himself has his own reasons as well for consenting to Asal’s marriage. What was it like to work with Asal, Alireza, and their extended family? What was their response to the film?
Well it was definitely a long and hard process for me to get to a point where they speak frankly and be honest and comfortable with my camera. I almost lived with them and they would accept me. The truths we see now on screen, used to be hidden from the other family members. But I talked to everyone individually and tried to provide a peaceful atmosphere for them and not be afraid of revealing.
From the other side, mostly what you see is their beliefs. For an audience out of this society it may seem strange that a father says my girl should not study if her husband says so. But for them it is their beliefs and they feel like they have found a tribune to talk about their beliefs and more interestingly even somehow criticize those who are not taking the same attitude.
Even though Asal seems excited about the prospect of marriage, news from different parts of the world report tragedies associated with child marriage and patriarchal traditions within Islamic societies. What do you think needs to change in order for these issues to improve?
Well as you mentioned in the film I wanted to be less judgmental and let audiences decide what needs to be changed. My personal opinion out of context of the film and based on my own experience is , first of all I think the issue is the way that we see women’s role in society. I haven’t seen all the Islamic societies in the world, but based on what I have seen and as a person from a religious family, I always find it really painful that women need to belong to a man somehow, otherwise they would be in crisis! This beliefs and dynamics go that far that Asal’s father in my film says “if Asal’s husband doesn’t let her work outside, she has to accept and stay at home.”
But I think child marriage is not only for Islamic societies in particular. It happens around the globe, just with different setups, beliefs, reasons and cultures. For example in the UK still girls can get married at 16 with parental consent and it has led to issues like the Payeez Mahmod campaign in last May in the UK. It’s also mentioned in the film that there is no rule to stop the marriage of Asal in Iran. Or when we screened in Canada and US correspondents were telling us that there are lots of registered child marriages in Canada and US as well. So there is a legal support that allows it which needs to be resolved.
Another example I can recall is in Albania, a non-Islamic country in the European union. I was told child marriage is happening there because of similar issues we explored in the film including financial reason and patriarch. Same feedback from audiences in South Africa, another country from another part of the earth.
So we should NOT just narrow it down to Islamic beliefs or only financial issues.
The Doll has been making its festival rounds and, more significantly, has been widely awarded and applauded. What does it mean for you to have your film receive the recognition it’s seeing so far?
The film is raised from a concern and issue that as a woman I have experienced and am still dealing with. I’m so proud that a lot of people around the world feel connected to it and I could communicate with them through my film. It makes me motivated and more determined to keep going in the direction and talk about all these personal concerns and feelings.
What’s next for you? And where can our readers follow you and your work?
I’m working on my next short film as a part of my MA course. It’s about one of my other personal feelings as a woman. I’m shooting it next week. 🙂
My instagram is the best place to follow myself: @elaheesmaili__
If they would like to follow film they can also follow films instagram page: @thedolldoc or the website of the film https://thedolldoc.com
