Three women who live in a poor neighborhood in Tehran actively seek a better life in this contemporary slice of Iranian life. Café Setareh focuses on Fariba, Saloomeh, and Moluk in a triptych of warm-hearted, interwoven stories. Fariba operates the café of the title, while her alcoholic, unemployed husband sponges off her; Saloomeh debates on whether to marry Ebi, whose one good deed doesn’t make up for his mean, controlling streak; and Moluk, a middle-aged landlady, pines for a man who has his own problems.
Directed by talented newcomer Saman Moghadam (Maxx), Café Setareh offers an authentic portrait of women, and as noted in Variety, "...in a country theoretically oppressive of women’s full expression, Iranian cinema is second to none as a delivery vehicle for rich dramas about women.
