critics consensus

Well-written and powerfully acted, Fireworks Wednesday gives audiences an early, assured glimpse of writer-director Asghar Farhadi's emerging talent. Read critic reviews

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Movie Info

Upon hearing of the engagement of her housekeeper, Roohi (Taraneh Alidoosti), housewife Mozhde (Hedye Tehrani) sends the betrothed to enjoy free services at a local salon -- provided that she eavesdrop to verify suspicions that her wealthy husband, Morteza (Hamid Farokhnezhad), is having an affair. But when -- in a misguided attempt to mend the Samieis' impossibly broken marriage -- Roohi ignores Mozhde's instructions, her naive meddling may throw the couple even deeper into turmoil.

Genre:

drama
Original Language:

Persian
Director:

Asghar Farhadi
Writer:

Asghar Farhadi, Mani Haghighi
Release Date (Streaming):

Sep 23, 2017
Runtime:

1h 44m

Cast & Crew

Taraneh Alidoosti
Roohi

Hedye Tehrani
Mozhde Samiei

Hamid Farokhnezhad
Morteza

Pantea Bahram
Simin

Asghar Farhadi
Director

Asghar Farhadi
Screenwriter

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Critic Reviews for Fireworks Wednesday

All Critics (44) | Top Critics (20) | Fresh (44)

It would be easy to write Fireworks Wednesday off as a melodrama, but Farhadi builds it so methodically and so intentionally, that you get a sense for every character, and every revelation hits harder than the last.

January 9, 2017 | Rating: 3.5/5 | Full Review…

Roxana Hadadi
Punch Drunk Critics
Farhadi manages to skirt the political and focus on human emotion, deception and frailty with such force that his setting and artistic restraints are rendered near irrelevant.

June 10, 2016 | Rating: A | Full Review…

Tom Long
Detroit News
Tehran on the eve of the Muslim New Year provides the backdrop for this engrossing Iranian drama about a marriage in crisis.

April 28, 2016 | Full Review…

Andrea Gronvall
Chicago Reader
[A] complex and magnificently acted melodrama ...

April 28, 2016 | Rating: 3.5/4 | Full Review…

Peter Keough
Boston Globe
Mournful, enigmatic and compulsively engrossing, "Fireworks Wednesday" gives viewers a chance to watch a master at work - before he was acknowledged as a master.

April 28, 2016 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Ann Hornaday
Washington Post
Any time you get to see a radiant bride-to-be (Taraneh Alidoosti) try on her dress and admire her reflection at the outset, you know that bliss is in the crosshairs.

April 21, 2016 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Matthew Lickona
San Diego Reader
The maturity of the mise-en-scene and the quiet confidence of the storytelling indicate a major talent, one that would flower in later and better films.

April 12, 2019 | Rating: 3.5/5 | Full Review…

Daniel Barnes
Dare Daniel
Fireworks Wednesday,.. stands out from Farhadi's work in this sense, using the occasional jump cut and shift in perspective to create a distrustful sense of time and space.

August 23, 2018 | Full Review…

Glenn Heath Jr.
San Diego CityBeat
"Fireworks Wednesday" brings an organic, sympathetic, and humanistic take on themes that have long been explored.

August 23, 2018 | Rating: 3.5/5 | Full Review…

Mae Abdulbaki
Movies with Mae
Though surrounded by actors of talent, especially the women, [Taraneh ] Alidousti carries the film by way of her expressive, all-seeing eyes.

August 18, 2017 | Full Review…

Kathy Fennessy
The Stranger (Seattle, WA)
Here's a film directed by a relative newcomer, Asghar Farhadi, that feels just as fresh as films by his predecessors, yet it also turns slightly inward, getting a little closer to the more turbulent human emotions.

March 26, 2017 | Rating: 3.5/4 | Full Review…

Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid
This is a very well acted film by the three main actors. The central part of the story (by writer-director Asghar Farhadi of 'A Separation') is powerful.

January 15, 2017 | Rating: B | Full Review…

Robert Roten
Laramie Movie Scope

View All Critic Reviews (44)

Audience Reviews for Fireworks Wednesday

Feb 17, 2012

After being blown away by A Separation, I decided to delve into director Asghar Farhadi's oeurve. Fireworks Wednesday, centers around familiar terrain: a broken marriage, as see through the eyes of a young housekeeper, and by extension, the audience. Farhadi's directorial style is subtly powerful: he takes his time, and allows the information to creep in at its own pace, instead of feeling a more Westernized need to shoehorn it all into the first 10 minutes. He also seamlessly shifts our point of view over and over again, confronting the audience to think twice about any preconceived notions we might have about his characters -- our assumptions, and their reliability. He's not afraid to allow a scene to develop, and he fearlessly trusts his actors. He'll direct in a more "invisible" style, but he astutely knows when to mix it up and reposition the camera, or change vantage points to inform the audience about a character's motivations. In this film, the martial strife hits a fever pitch and culminates in a show stopping long shot down an elevator, and into the street that has to be seen to be believed. I honestly don't think it could have been shot any better, and the mis-en-scene is pitch perfect. A theme that occupies Farhadi appears to be the corrosive underbelly of Persian culture, and its stifling traditional values. This story takes place on Chaharshanbe Suri (the Persian New Year) and all throughout the film, you hear fireworks in the distance. Near the end of the film, there's this great sequence where two characters are driving in the car, and through the windows you see a succession of fireworks, and fire in the streets. After dwelling on these details for a minute or two, the metaphorical meaning seeps in -- these relationships are just as combustible. It's a subtle detail, but very powerful -- and, for me, that's a great way to describe Farhadi's style: subtle, but powerful.

Jonathan H Super Reviewer