In this remarkable gem, Mohsen Abdolvahab captures in delicate poetic images the lot of two Iranian widows who were married to the same man and now live on either side of a yard. Thrown together by an impotent man’s desire for children, there is little love lost between the pair. The first lords it over the second, who, so bent with age she can barely stand, is forced to cook and slave for her rival. For her pains, she is rewarded with constant abuse, apparently received with stoical submission. Gradually, however, we catch glimpses of defiance, hints of an unbroken spirit, as well as some appreciation of what motivates domestic tyranny. A beautiful meditation on life, death, loneliness and the bitter fruits of forced companionship.