This gem of a film deserves a much wider audience than it will inevitably get. I saw it at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2004 in a small audience who spilt out thrilled to have seen the best film in that year's Festival. The bonus of meeting Mohsen Amiryoussefi, the director of the film, after the screening made it very special. The charm and intelligence of his approach and his modesty only acted to complement the brilliance of Amiryoussefi's instinctive and compelling film-making and his years of dedication to making one of the most original cinematic statements of recent years.
The film is well described in another of the postings so I'll spare you a rehash of that. What especially made the experience magical was the sure-footed direction that at first misleads you into thinking that you are seeing a straight documentary. Then the film seems to falter when "impossible" TV footage makes the documentary look "dishonest". At this point, I was convinced the film was a sham and the director was not in control of his material. Then over the next minutes it becomes apparent that Mohsen Amiryoussefi is a conjurer and even a genius. In fact, he has never mislead, but rather taken us on a journey to fresh pastures (no less) by letting us believe that we were watching a conventionally filmed documentary initially. What Amiryoussefi delivers is as far away from a "normal" film as it is possible to be - and all the better for it.
This is one of the masterpieces of recent world cinema. See it if you get a chance. It's a great film and ask yourself: "How many Iranian comedies have you ever seen?". Here's your chance!