Reading Lolita in Tehran

Name: Reading Lolita in Tehran
Duration: 1 h 47 min

1hr 47m

1hr 47m
3.3/5 (2.2K)
100%

In revolutionary Iran, as fundamentalists tighten their grip on society, a professor secretly gathers seven of her most dedicated female students to read and discuss forbidden classics of Western literature, including Lolita and Pride and Prejudice. Based on the bestselling memoir by Azar Nafisi. A film by Eran Riklis starring Golshifteh Farahani (Paterson), Zar Amir (Holy Spider), and Mina Kavani (No Bears).

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Movie Info & Cast

Director:

Eran Riklis

Producer:

Gianluca Curti, Moshe Edery, Eran Riklis

Writer:

Marjorie David, Eran Riklis, Azar Nafisi

Release Date:

Jul 10, 2026

Runtime:

1hr 47m

Synopsis

Cast

Golshifteh Farahani
Zar Amir Ebrahimi
Mina Kavani
Reza Diako
Arash Marandi
Catayoune Ahmadi
Sina Parvaneh
Bahar Beihaghi
Niloufar Davari
Abbas Fasaei

Moviegoers are saying

This adaptation of Azar Nafisi's memoir about an underground book club in post-revolution Iran has sparked passionate debate among viewers, with many praising Golshifteh Farahani's powerful performance while criticizing the film's surface-level treatment of complex political themes. Critics consistently note that while the source material is rich, the execution feels sanitized and artificial, particularly given the controversial choice of Israeli director Eran Riklis and the decision to film in Italy rather than authentically recreating Tehran.

Top Mentions

Controversial-Adaptation

Political-Minefield

Literary-Resistance

Culture-Clash

Sanitized-Struggle

Performance-Powerhouse

Summary generated from the text of Atom User reviews

Letterboxd User Reviews

3.3

RATINGS 21 FANS

3.3

Mar 26, 2025

films fait par et pour les occidentaux, beaucoup trop gentil, pas assez politique. Les personnages sont seulement là pour représenter des situations, les femmes du club de lecture n'existent pas en tant qu'individu propre. On accorde à chacune 5 minutes de dialogue intime à…

197 Likes

ouhaw

Mar 20, 2025

This film falls short of its rich source material. It wants to be about literary freedom, gender oppression, and political resistance but only skims the surface of all three. Moments that should hit hard—intimate scenes of women reading Lolita as part of an “underground”…

190 Likes

brianna

Nov 27, 2024

the sexual tension between me and misandry

161 Likes

giorgia
Nov 22, 2024

Produzione italo-israeliana 💀

136 Likes

Davide Caponi

Apr 13, 2026

Textbook "clash of civilizations" psyop that repackages Azar Nafisi’s already tired Orientalist tropes for a new audience that is supposedly too "progressive" to see that they are being fed a diet of imperialist propaganda designed to make the bombing of the Middle East…

77 Likes

edgard713

Oct 22, 2024

Nice one. Probably an evergreen. Notice this is an American movie. Beautiful open minded ladies against brute Islamic men. No geopolitical context about Iran, and apparent no relationship with the U.S.. Perfectly suited for american audience. I enjoyed the book club…

72 Likes

feirut
Mar 29, 2025

C'est difficile pour un film comme celui-ci de passer après l'admirable Les Graines du Figuier Sauvage de Mohammad Rasoulof. Parce que là où ce dernier représentait avec une maîtrise sidérante la lente montée de l'idéologie des Mollahs au sein de la sphère familiale, ici le…

61 Likes

Kévin List

Mar 28, 2025

je pense qu’à partir d’aujourd’hui je vais me balader avec une bague dans ma poche pour “au cas où” je croise golshifteh farahani

52 Likes

zéa

Mar 28, 2025

Sincerely don’t know for sure if I liked this or not. Not much can be learnt by someone who isn’t very aware of what’s going on. We have a few Khomeini but even then the relationship between Khameinei/Khatami is only briefly seen by posters. I think it’s a waste since the…

46 Likes

ali

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Top Reviews

Myrtille liked

Reading Lolita in Tehran

I love seeing women who don't like men telling them what to do

1Y

Reihaneh loved

Reading Lolita in Tehran

Smart in describing the real situation. It was touching for me

1Y