Appropriate Behaviour is the first feature film from 29 year-old Iranian American filmmaker Desiree Akhavan. Prior to this film she was best known for being co-creator and star of the web series The Slope.
The film also stars Akhavan who plays an Iranian American bisexual woman struggling to cope after the demise of her relationship with Maxine (Rebecca Henderson). Desiree Akhavan freely acknowledges that all of the work that she makes is based heavily on personal experience.
Akhavan gives a solid, captivating and thoroughly believable performance as Shirin. Despite being egocentric, obsessive, angry and even malicious at times, Akhavan still manages to evoke sympathy for Shirin, and is quite mesmerising to watch. Frequently deadpan, Akhavan has an innate understanding of comic timing. She appears in nearly every scene and is clearly the glue that holds the film together. However, the supporting cast are all strong, with quirky performances from Halley Feiffer and Scott Adsit.
While the film is described as a comedy, there are certainly some touching, serious and black moments in it. Shirin agonises over the decision whether or not to come out to her parents and goes to comical lengths to hide her ‘bi-curious’ status. However, being gay or bisexual is no small thing in Iranian culture – a convicted homosexual can be stoned to death in Iran.
The title is surely ironic, with Shirin’s behaviour the antithesis of ‘appropriate’– the lengths that she will go to re-engage with Maxine quite staggering at times. The film is interspersed with non-sequential flashbacks of Shirin’s relationship with Maxine. It begins and ends with Shirin on a train – by the end of the film she has certainly been on a journey and is mentally in a very different place.
Desiree Akhavan is about to be catapulted into more mainstream media, joining Lena Dunham (to whom she has been frequently compared) in the next series of the HBO series Girls. Akhavan’s future looks bright and it is well deserved.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Appropriate Behaviour
Written, directed by and starring Desiree AkhavanProducer: Cecilia Frugiuele
Cinematographer: Chris Teague
Editor: Sara Shaw
Cast: Desiree Akhavan, Rebecca Henderson, Scott Adsit, Halley Feiffer
Production Company: Parkville Pictures
Country: UK/USA
Rating: R+
Language; English, Farsi
Melbourne International Film Festival
www.miff.com.au
31 July – 17 August
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