A young woman gets caught in the midst of a married couple’s domestic drama when she’s hired to clean their apartment in Fireworks Wednesday, from writer-director Asghar Farhadi. The maid (Taraneh Alidoosti) is on the verge of being married herself, but she’d be forgiven for changing her mind at the end of this day. Used as a pawn by both husband and wife – she (Hedye Tehrani) suspects him (Hamid Farokhnezhad) of having an affair – the movie serves as a depressing introduction to the duplicity of adulthood. The title comes from the Persian New Year holiday, when bonfires are lit in the streets and fireworks go off all day and into the night. Indeed, unexpected bangs can be heard in the background throughout the film, jarring a narrative that’s already deeply unsettled. Fireworks Wednesday is by no means an uplifting film, yet there is some sort of comfort in the trueness of its observations – the way it gets our fears, frustrations, insecurities and insensitivity just right. You may not like what you see here, but you’ll certainly recognize it.
