The Charmer, written with Ingeborg Topsoe and directed by Milad Alami - Nine out of 10

The Charmer, written with Ingeborg Topsoe and directed by Milad Alami

Nine out of 10

In a world newly obsessed, at times terrified, haunted by the specter of hordes of refugees invading and stealing jobs from the natives, the story of an Iranian Charmer finds not only an interested audience, but also the path to accomplishment and cinematic success, proved by the prizes won, nominations and acclaim from critics that this excellent feature has enjoyed.

The Charmer has a name, Esmail – that when asked, the hero does not know the significance, if it has any, and he is portrayed with great talent, wonderful skill, especially given the need to address such a tremendous variety of human feelings – this a supposed seducer who has to suffer, is puzzled by different challenges, at times he is projecting self-assurance, only to be overwhelmed by doubt, insecurity, fear, loneliness, missing his family and the attacks of a vengeful husband.

The Iranian protagonist is the epitome on some levels of the refugee who is desperate to be accepted in a strange country, where his request for legal, official residence is often rejected, has to look for alternatives and does not want to return to a country of origin where he is often destitute, sometimes in danger of being oppressed, abused, tortured or even killed.

This is s certain drama, but it is not without very good moments of jocularity, although we cannot laugh with a full heart, for the humor plays on some awkward situations where the actor, the formidable Ardalan Esmaili, is fantastic, rendering a confused, sometimes embarrassed character with ease, complexity – when the Charmer meets with the mother of his new friend, trying to be sincere and not compromise his chances in the process for instance.

One can identify with the main character – like the under signed who had arranged for a marriage in order to escape communism, in the days before the fall of the Berlin Wall – and see his efforts of meeting an eligible woman that would marry him and therefore ensure his stay in Denmark.

Or be outraged by his vain efforts to Charm an innocent – if that is the right assumption – citizen who would fall into his trap, which is not exactly a correct assessment, given that he does not try to enter an asylum with patients that suffer from various afflictions that affect impede on their capacity to think, analyze and take decisions.

Esmail mostly spends his after hours, leisure time in a bar where he does hook up with some female partners, although this is a very obfuscating at times enterprise, given that one woman is already married, with another he just suffers from a breakdown when she asks him to take her from behind…

One evening, he meets another Iranian, an emancipated, strong, intelligent, self-assured, rebellious, sometimes fearful young woman, Sara, who is in the bar with her Danish friend, waiting for their dates, and confronting her fellow compatriot with what she soon sees as his immoral endeavor.

This could be a case of the Harding Effect, or Thin Slicing, explained in the masterpiece Blink – The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by the genius Malcolm Gladwell, which means that we are able – indeed, though millennia of experience perhaps preprogrammed – to be able to come to a conclusion in about one minute, even if mistakes are necessarily made.

Sara is very hostile in the first place, based on her assumption – thin slicing operation maybe – that this is just another man trying to entrap a woman in order to satisfy his selfish, ruthless and villainous purposes, when in fact this a rather tragic character, trying to support his family, offer them a better life in the west, chance which can be obtained only through a marriage.

Notwithstanding this first confrontation, when they meet again, the Iranian girl is so changed in regards to the hero as to invite him at an Iranian party – he is puzzled, for he has been here for two years – while Sara was born in the country – and has not even known about such a shindig, never mind attend one.

Furthermore, at this festivity, this unconventional, modern, liberal – perhaps too liberal – woman is offering the rather innocent man drugs, in the form of half a pill that they each take in the restroom and then join a rather wild dance and listen to a singing performance with the mother of the heroine celebrated as one of the most acclaimed singer in the country.

As they take some air –and smoke! – Sara starts kissing the man she has initially rebuffed and warned off against trying anything with her girlfriend and this is the debut of a relationship that develops, once the mother invited Esmail to their home to enjoy some home cooked meal, prepared by her.

At the house, the guest is told about the educational plans of the daughter, who wants to study law and asked about his presence in the country and his occupation, which is a mover of furniture and thus a less than attractive prospect – a statement that he hears while returning from the bathroom.

A Danish man starts talking with the hero and then offers him a ride, only to say that he can see that the Iranian has had an affair with his wife – sometimes the protagonist did was not aware of the marital status of the women who had sex with him and was actually very upset when he learned they were married, as happened in one situation when a child of about five interrupted their coitus.

Tragically, that wife has committed suicide and the widower is now exacting revenge on the stranger that he suspects – nay, he is sure – must have said or done something, revealed an aspect that had led  to his cheating wife’s departure and harasses the hero, enters his apartment, beats him and haunts the poor Charmer.

The Charmer is a…charming, if often sad, emotional, disturbing saga of a refugee that has a better chance for the future than millions who are destitute and in a much serious situation than Esmail.