Still Life (1974) طبیعت بی‌جان شهید ثالث

Still Life (Persian: طبیعت بی‌جان, translit. Tabiate bijan) is a 1974 Iranian film directed by Sohrab Shahid-Saless. It was entered into the 24th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Silver Bear. For more than three decades, aging Iranian Mohamad Sardari (Zadour Bonyadi) has worked as a crossing guard at a desolate train station. Through the years, Mohamad has done little to stifle the loneliness and boredom inherent in the job. Meanwhile, back at his family home, life is similarly uneventful: Mohamad’s wife passes the time sewing night and day, especially since the couple’s son left to join the army. As time passes, Mohamad mechanically continues to do his duty. In this artful and heartfelt drama, an elderly railway signalman and his wife lead a solitary existence living by a railway line that passes through a village in Iran. Every day the signalman works the track while his wife weaves carpets at home.