‘The Friend’s House Is Here’ review: Iranian female artists face cultural challenges in propulsive drama

Dirs/scrs: Hossein Keshavarz, Maryam Ataei. US/Iran. 2026. 97mins

Lovingly chronicling the friendship between two young female Tehran artists, The Friend’s House Is Here exudes a deceptively delicate air that gradually grows more urgent and despondent. Writer-directors Hossein Keshavarz and Maryam Ataei utilise sustained long takes to bring the audience inside these women’s intimate creative world, offhandedly but pointedly capturing the oppression of their society. Actors Mahshad Bahram and Mana Hana lend the characters a propulsive, effortless exuberance, which will be severely challenged by the unexpected hardships that await them.

A deceptively delicate air that gradually grows more urgent 

Premiering in Sundance’s US Dramatic competition, the film takes its name from late Iranian master Abbas Kiarostami’s 1987 drama Where Is The Friend’s House? and, although there are few narrative similarities between the two pictures, they share a subdued, naturalistic style that yields significant emotional rewards. The Friend’s House Is Here has no major names in the cast, but strong reviews should boost visibility — as, sadly, will the ongoing anti-government protests in Iran.

Pari (Mahshad Bahraminejad) and Hanna (Hana Mana) are best friends and roommates, each of them pursuing their creative aspirations. In a few elegant strokes, The Friend’s House Is Here depicts their strong bond and differing personalities: experimental playwright Pari is conscientious but uptight, while performer Hanna is carefree but self-absorbed. But although their temperaments may occasionally clash, they are united in their hatred of Iran’s censorious, patriarchal regime. (When an older woman walks by Pari and Hanna in public, scolding them for not wearing a hajib, they just laugh in defiance.) For them and their cohorts, artistic expression is both a rebuke to and an escape from a political reality they cannot tolerate.

Early on, The Friend’s House Is Here simply checks in on the two women’s lives, showing snippets of their creative endeavours and personal interactions. Pari studiously works on a challenging underground piece involving major themes, while Hanna specialises in dance and social-media content. Eventually, Hanna lands a boyfriend: Ali (Karen), a video artist charmed by her flirty energy. These initial sequences feel like fleeting fragments — almost like scrapbook images collected and preserved.

Scenes are executed in an unshowy manner incorporating little in the way of camera movement. Yet Keshavarz and Ataei — a married couple who previously collaborated on the 2010 drama Dog Sweat, also about Iran’s restless youth — fill the picture with energy. In its remarkably casual way, The Friend’s House Is Here conjures up the everyday rhythms of early adulthood as the characters navigate their insecurities and chase their dreams.

At the same time, though, there is a fragility woven into these unassuming, joyous scenes, with the writer-directors including just enough evidence of how Pari and Hanna are affected by the broken society around them. (The film takes place in the wake of Iran’s recent June War with Israel, and production was hampered by power outages and hostile authorities.) The Friend’s House Is Here argues that the personal is political: it’s hard enough to find love and pursue a difficult career path — to be a woman in Iran makes those challenges even more daunting.

The two leads delight, showing their characters laughing, goofing around and bickering. One suspects that Pari is after more serious artistic pursuits than her easygoing friend, but there is no value judgment placed on either Pari or Hanna. Still, cracks in their friendship do start to form, first when Hanna gets involved with Ali and, later, when Hanna considers leaving Iran, but these ruptures lack any forced dramatic fireworks and events unspool with relaxed grace.

But such grace cannot last long in an authoritarian society. Eventually, the storytelling’s gentle flow from incident to incident gives way to dire circumstances after one of the characters faces severe consequences for her art, setting in motion a possible prison sentence and a tough choice for her friend. Keshavarz and Ataei adeptly shift the tone without losing their grip. By illuminating the passion and creativity shared by two Iranian friends, The Friend’s House Is Here both celebrates and worries about an emerging generation of women activists yearning to defy a dictatorship. Its rebellious spirit isn’t fiery but, rather, quiet and confident — and all the more inspiring as a result.