Ali Asgari, Divine Comedy (2025)
“True to its name, Ali Asgari’s [2025 film] Divine Comedy is not only a direct reference to Dante but also mirrors his narrative structure: two companions journeying from hell to paradise. Bahram, a forty-year-old acclaimed filmmaker, takes on the role of Dante the questioner, accompanied by Sadaf—his producer and partner—on a daylong odyssey from morning to night. The first stage is hell: the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. Bahram seeks permission to publicly screen his latest film in Iranian cinemas but faces closed doors and prohibition. The ministry’s ‘hell’ resembles an interrogation chamber, and Bahram, without even drinking the proffered tea, prepares to leave this ominous place. From there, the narrative takes on a purgatorial quality. In the guise of a ‘Virgil,’ Sadaf leads Bahram to her acquaintances in the hope of finding a way to screen the film. Yet everyone they meet is caught in their own purgatorial limbo, forced to comply with censorship, repression, and unjust bureaucracy simply to survive. Thus the entire narrative is woven from absurd situations, and even without being a comedy, the divine law governing the text renders the characters’ conduct comically grotesque.
“The film’s title carries a dual function: for the viewer familiar with Dante, Divine Comedy becomes an allegory of a journey from darkness toward hope; for the Iranian audience, it reads as an ironic nod to the daily geography of life—passing through the labyrinth of bureaucracy and the farce of power—until suddenly, in a historical moment (the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime), it takes on the guise of hope. In Iran, Divine Comedy is not a comedy; it is a representation of the grotesque.” —Ali Farahmand, “Ali Asgari’s Divine Comedy: Dante’s Surrealism, Ali Asgari’s Realism,” Brooklyn Rail, September 2025
Sighting Citation:
“Ali Asgari, Divine Comedy (2025).” Dante Today: Citings and Sightings of Dante’s Works in Contemporary Culture. Elizabeth Coggeshall and Arielle Saiber, eds. January 23, 2026. https://www.dantetoday.org/sightings/ali-asgari-divine-comedy-2025/.