Abbas Kiarostami
Where Is the Friends House?
- DirectorAbbas Kiarostami
- CinematographerFarhad Saba
KASPER TUXEN A simple story, pure performances, and a non invasive camera make it feel almost painfully real. Very inspiring, quietly profound and deeply engaging.
Storyline
Abbas Kiarostami’s Where Is the Friend’s House? (1987) is one of the masterpieces of Iranian cinema, celebrated for its simplicity, realism, and human depth.
The film takes place in the small village of Koker in northern Iran. The central character is Ahmad, an 8-year-old schoolboy. In class, Ahmad’s teacher sternly warns that students must always do their homework in their notebooks, threatening expulsion if they don’t. After school, Ahmad realizes that he has mistakenly taken home his classmate Mohammad Reza’s notebook. Knowing that Mohammad will be punished if he cannot complete his homework in the correct notebook, Ahmad feels responsible and decides to return it to him. This leads Ahmad on a determined journey across villages and winding paths in search of Mohammad’s house. Along the way, he encounters adults who either distract him, misunderstand his urgency, or are indifferent to his mission. Despite all obstacles, Ahmad’s perseverance, compassion, and moral sense drive him to keep searching for his friend’s home. The film closes in a simple yet profound way: the bond between children, the innocence of friendship, and the purity of responsibility stand in contrast to the rigidity and indifference of the adult world.
The story behind
Kiarostami drew inspiration from a real observation of rural children in Iran, particularly how they handled strict school systems and the everyday weight of moral decisions. The film was shot in the village of Koker, a place Kiarostami would revisit in later films (Life, and Nothing More and Through the Olive Trees), creating what came to be known as the “Koker Trilogy.”
At its heart, the film is a parable about moral duty and empathy. It elevates a seemingly small problem (returning a notebook) into a universal story about responsibility, friendship, and the power of a child’s conscience. The simplicity of the narrative, the natural performances of nonprofessional actors, and the poetic use of landscapes reflect Kiarostami’s philosophy: finding profound truths in ordinary life.