This extraordinary film, which, despite its tragic trappings, is often surprisingly playful, can be appreciated without knowing anything about Panahi or his long-term battles with the authoritarian regime.

Peter Rainer

Christian Science Monitor

If watching a Jafar Panahi film is something of a political act, then it is also a soul-nourishing one.

Barry Hertz

The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

The same ground that once bore the sturdy foundation of a loving home now stands eternally scarred by the searing cuts of imaginary lines, an irreparable fissure that – in Panahi’s heartfelt visual diary – cruelly severs the frail umbilical cord to the motherland.