Donya
Donya
| 07 December 2002 (USA)
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Donya is a young, attractive single woman who has just returned to Tehran from abroad. She seeks the help of Hadji Reza Enayat, the conservative and stern owner of a real estate agency, to look for a house. We sense that she has an ulterior motive but that motive will not surface until the end of the movie. She puts on the charm and Hadji falls head over heels in love with her and proposes marriage despite being already married to a loving and pious wife. Awkward and funny situations develop as he tries to keep his affair secret from his family.

Reviews
Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring
Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.
Mischa Redfern I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.
Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.
Mahdokht Emadi Donya is one of those few well directed comedies of Iran cinema, also well written and well acted. Although it is required to mention that Hedye Tehrani played the most important role in this success, the actress who for sure is the only superstar of Iran cinema, of course not the best. And at the other hand Sharifinia seems to be great in acting in such roles! Haji's newly stirred passions including updating his clothing style, cutting his hair, and sending his wife and family on a vacation to get them out of the way is a lot of fun.It could be a good idea to show the movie in international film festivals,as that might be a lot of fun for the foreigners to watch the relationship between a very conservative religious married man and a modern single woman.
poe426 Both Tehrani as the beautiful title character and Sharifinia as the scheming Hadji make DONYA worthy of a look. Together, they have the looks and the talent to make a great pair of international stars. Though the movie is a tad slow in the early going, it doesn't take long for things to start to jell. The standout here (in my own, ever humble opinion) is Sharifinia: he shows the necessary range to handle most any (acting) situation. (It would be interesting, indeed, to see him play it straight- no humor, no lovable bumbling- in a political thriller or a murder mystery. He has the face for it.) Not to be overlooked, Ms. Tehrani more than holds her own. It would be nice to see the both of them together again in another type of film.
corrosion-2 Donya was a huge hit in Iran, further solidifying Hedieh Tehrani's position as the top female box office draw. It is a very funny look at the relationship between an ultra conservative religious married man (Sharifinia)and a care free, modern single woman (Tehrani). Tenrani's charms slowly, but surely, erodes Shrifinia's traditional values, resulting in a series of hilarious events. Donya is well written and very well acted. Sharifinia is particularly good as the confused conservative guy. In fact his success in this role led him to being type cast in many similar roles. Donya is a prime example of those Iranian films which are loved in Iran but go neglected by international film festivals. A classic comedy from Iran.
justjohnna-1 I was interested in the movie because I understood it was popular in Iran. It was interesting to see the costuming, what was old-fashioned and traditional for men vs. new and western. What the first wife wore, traditional, what Donya wore, modern and alluring, though she was all covered up, she did wear jeans with knee-length shirt, and the way she wore her scarf, though it covered her hair and neck, did give us a better idea of where her waist might be than the more traditional outfit.I don't really understand the ending of the movie. So, did he give Donya fake papers and not really marry her? And, she did it all to get her father's house back from him, and she says that it's like he killed her father, because he bought her father's house years ago?I felt like they made Donya to be a bad person in the end, when her cousin was saying she was no longer pure. Which makes who she is a lot less interesting.