Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s 2003 follow up to The Circle is another exploration of the pressures and limitations that come to bear upon individuals in modern society. Panahi’s recurring motif of the circle’that which circumscribes, limits and defines’is once again applied in a poetic depiction of life for ordinary Iranians.

The opening scene is dramatic and tense, made all the more so for Panahi’s clever visual constructs’we are treated to frames within frames, often bearing witness to multiple points of view, both foregrounded and backgrounded, adding complexity and subtlety to his depictions.

The central characters are Hussein, a downcast pizza deliveryman, his friend and collaborator Ali, and Ali’s sister, whom Hussein is engaged to. Hussein is overweight and comes across as dim-witted, an effect of medication prescribed since an undisclosed accident or injury. Throughout the film, the limits placed on Hussein by virtue of his class and physical appearance multiply. They gradually effect his disposition until we feel him sinking into despair, and helplessly watch as a kind of catatonia takes over Hussein.

Crimson Gold is reminiscent of Taxi Driver’a depiction of the breakdown of an individual unable to relate, constantly frustrated and deeply alienated within a modern metropolis. Abbas Kiarostami’s script paints a complex and nuanced picture, and with Panahi’s direction the result is heartbreaking. The film portrays experiences common for many in modern societies’miscommunication, disorientation, disconnection and humiliation’and the tragedy that occurs when they overwhelm the individual.