Ballad of a White Cow

Mina’s life is turned upside down when she learns that her husband Babak was innocent of the crime for which he was executed. The authorities apologise for the mistake and offer the prospect of financial compensation. Mina starts a silent battle against a cynical system for her own and her daughter’s sake. Just as her money is running out, a stranger named Reza knocks at her door, saying he has come to repay a debt he owed to Babak. Mina is guarded at first, but increasingly lets Reza into her life, unaware of the secret that ties them to one another. Behtash Sanaeeha and Maryam Moghaddam masterfully present guilt and atonement, a classic trope of Iranian film, as a cinema of small, precise gestures and spaces. Maryam Moghaddam excels in the role of a Mina caught between loneliness and her struggle for self-determination. (Berlinale)