''Death of Yazdgerd'' ( fa, مرگ یزدگرد, ''Marg-e Yazdgerd'') is a 1982 Iranian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

Bahram Beyzai Bahrām Beyzāêi (also spelt Beizāi, Beyzāêi, fa, بهرام بیضائی; born 26 December 1938) is an Iranian playwright, theatre director, screenwriter, film editor, and '' ostād'' ("master") of Persian letters, arts and Iranian studie ...

based on the play of the same name.

Plot

The story of the film is based on the murder of

Yazdgerd III Yazdegerd III (also spelled Yazdgerd III and Yazdgird III; pal, 𐭩𐭦𐭣𐭪𐭥𐭲𐭩) was the last Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 632 to 651. His father was Shahriyar and his grandfather was Khosrow II. Ascending the throne at th ...

, the last emperor of

Sasanian Persia The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

, who while being hard pressed by the Arabs on his western flank, fled to Marv where he was slain by a miller in a mill, in which he had been taking refuge. The film begins with the Zoroastrian high priest (

magus Magi (; singular magus ; from Latin '' magus'', cf. fa, مغ ) were priests in Zoroastrianism and the earlier religions of the western Iranians. The earliest known use of the word ''magi'' is in the trilingual inscription written by Darius th ...

) of the Persian Empire, accompanied by the imperial army commander entering the mill to try the miller accused of murdering the emperor. The miller, his wife and his daughter, while trying to exculpate themselves, all express a different version of the same incident. As the story shifts, more questions come up than are answered. A central theme in the film is the social disaffection among the general population of Persia at the eve of the Arab Islamic conquests and inequality in the highly class-based society, in which the wealthy elite and the Magi had amassed a disproportionate amount of wealth that they owed to heavy taxation and the benefactions of the pious.

Book

The play was translated into English by Manuchehr Anvar and published in Tehran. Another English translation is named ''Death of the King'', published in ''Stories from the Rains of Love and Death: Four Plays from Iran'' in Canada.

Cast

Susan Taslimi Susan Taslimi (also spelt Soosan Taslimi, fa, سوسن تسلیمی , born 7 February 1950) is an Iranian actress, film director, theatre director, and screenwriter. She emigrated from Iran in 1987, now living and working in Sweden. Biography Bo ...

as the miller's wife (زن آسیابان; zan-e āsiābān) *

Mehdi Hashemi Mehdi Hashemi (1944 – 28 September 1987) was an Iranian Shi'a cleric who was defrocked by the Special Clerical Court. After the 1979 Iranian Revolution, he became a senior official in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards; he was executed by the ...

as the miller (آسیابان; āsiābān) * Mahmoud Behrouzian as the priest (موبد; mobad) *

Amin Tarokh Amin Tarokh ( fa, امین تارخ; 11 August 1953 – 24 September 2022) was an Iranian actor. He has received various accolades, including a Crystal Simorgh, a Hafez Award. He also used to teach acting and was the teacher of famous actors li ...

as the general (سردار اسپهبد; sardār

spāhbed ''Spāhbed'' (also spelled ''spahbod'' and ''spahbad'') is a Middle Persian title meaning "army chief" used chiefly in the Sasanian Empire. Originally there was a single ''spāhbed'', called the , who functioned as the generalissimo of the Sasan ...

) *

Karim Akbari Mobarakeh Karim Akbari Mobarakeh ( fa, کریم اکبری مبارکه, 6 June 1953 – 29 October 2020) was an Iranian actor and film director, well known for the cast of Abd-al-Rahman ibn Muljam in ''Shaheed-e-Kufa, Imam Ali'' series. He acted in ''Mokh ...

as the army chief (سرکرده; sarkarde) * Yasaman Arami as the miller's daughter (دختر; doxtar) * Ali Reza Khamseh as the soldier (سرباز; sarbāz)

References

{{Bahram Beyzai Films based on plays by Bahram Beyzai Films directed by Bahram Bayzai Films set in the 7th century History of Iran on film Iranian historical drama films