The Mandrake

1975 DramaMystery 105 minutes Directed by Fereydoun Gole

About The Mandrake

Ali Ezzat Fakhar's aunt has taken the land he inherited. He sells flowers. One night, on a road outside the city, he meets a woman who seems to be running from a group of people. She says her name is Mehri, gets into his car, and the two grow close. She later goes to a house, saying she is visiting her grandmother, and does not come back. Ali opens the door onto an endless green garden with no one in it. His search fails. On a rainy night his car drops into a ravine and he is killed. At dawn Mehri is among the people on the hill who look down at the wreck.

Cast & crew

More about The Mandrake

Fereydoun Gole wrote and directed Mehrgiah, released in 1975. Ali Nasirian plays Ali Ezzat Fakhar and Pouri Banai plays Mehri. Persian Wikipedia gives that plot and those names.

Themes

  • Land taken by an aunt
  • A woman who vanishes into a garden
  • A car in a ravine
  • flower seller
  • Mehri
  • garden
  • rain
  • Tehran-era Iran

Notes

  • The Persian title is Mehrgiah, which is the word used in the English title The Mandrake.
  • IMDb lists the running time as 1 hour 45 minutes.
  • Gole's Beehive was made in the same period.

Scenes

  • Ali opens a door and finds an empty green garden with no end.
  • At dawn Mehri looks down from a hill at Ali's wrecked car.

Also available

  • Wikimedia Commons ("The Mandrake", 1975, Pars Film Production. " مهرگیاه".webm)