The Ladies

A ladies room in the centre of Teheran seems to be a good meeting point with an often therapeutic role. Most of the women hanging out are addicts, prostitutes and homeless girls, or unconventional women seeking some mental comfort. The old woman that runs the toilet is a support figure to many younger females who need a good listener, a good laugh or a shoulder to cry on. Many intimacies are exchanged, many sad and tragic stories confessed. But the mood of the film is nevertheless quite playful. The women talk openly about their destiny, their misfortune and their attempt to make free choices in the rules of marriage and religion. They smoke in the toilet, gossip about their husbands, drink tea together or sing songs. The ladies room somehow becomes a shelter where, for a brief moment, there might be real hope. Despite the misery, these women may one day become ‘real ladies’. The director interviews them in a very spontaneous manner. We experience the whole film as a friendly chat visualised with an ‘invisible’ camera.