# A Hero

**A Hero** (Persian: Ghahreman, قهرمان) is a 2021 Persian-language drama film written and directed by [Asghar Farhadi](https://www.edgepedia.org/asghar-farhadi), an Iran–France co-production about a man on leave from a debtor's prison whose act of returning lost gold coins makes him a public hero and then a public suspect. It runs 127 minutes and stars Amir Jadidi, Mohsen Tanabandeh, Sahar Goldust, and Fereshteh Sadrorafaii.<sup>[1](https://medias.unifrance.org/medias/68/178/242244/presse/a-hero-presskit-english.pdf)</sup> The film premiered in competition at the 74th Cannes Film Festival, where it shared the [Grand Prix](https://www.edgepedia.org/grand-prix-cannes-film-festival) with Juho Kuosmanen's *Compartment No. 6*.<sup>[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/press/press-releases/all-the-74th-festival-de-cannes-awards/)</sup>

| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and writer | Asghar Farhadi, his ninth feature and first set in Iran since *[The Salesman](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-salesman-2016-film)* (2016)<sup>[1](https://medias.unifrance.org/medias/68/178/242244/presse/a-hero-presskit-english.pdf)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[3](https://sightlines.media/film/672208/a-hero-2021)</sup> |
| Production | Iran–France co-production; produced by Memento Production, Asghar Farhadi Production, and ARTE France Cinéma; 127 minutes<sup>[1](https://medias.unifrance.org/medias/68/178/242244/presse/a-hero-presskit-english.pdf)</sup> |
| Setting | Shiraz, the first Farhadi feature set in his native city rather than Tehran<sup>[3](https://sightlines.media/film/672208/a-hero-2021)</sup> |
| Premise | Rahim, imprisoned for an unpaid debt of 150,000 tomans, uses a two-day leave to try to persuade his creditor to withdraw his complaint<sup>[4](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/a-hero-debt-ridden-prisoner-streets-gold-family-finance-asghar-farhadi)</sup> |
| Cannes 2021 | Grand Prix (ex-aequo) with *Compartment No. 6* (the FIPRESCI Award went to *Drive My Car*); also the François Chalais Award<sup>[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/press/press-releases/all-the-74th-festival-de-cannes-awards/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[5](https://www.festival-cannes.com/catalogueofficiel/en/data/texts.pdf)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[6](https://www.dga.org/events/2022/january2022/gcs_ahero_1120)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[24](https://www.fipresci-india.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Newsletter-July-2021.pdf)</sup> |
| Awards context | Iran's official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards<sup>[6](https://www.dga.org/events/2022/january2022/gcs_ahero_1120)</sup> |
| Critical reception | Metascore 82 from 39 reviews; 97% on Rotten Tomatoes from 187 reviews<sup>[7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/a-hero/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_hero)</sup> |

## Spoilers

### Plot

Rahim (Amir Jadidi) is serving a three-year sentence in a debtor's prison in Shiraz for failing to repay a debt of 150,000 tomans to Bahram (Mohsen Tanabandeh), a hard-headed creditor who is also his former brother-in-law and whose grudges against Rahim are, in Guy Lodge's words, "densely compacted and weaponised".<sup>[4](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/a-hero-debt-ridden-prisoner-streets-gold-family-finance-asghar-farhadi)</sup> On a two-day leave, Rahim hopes to persuade Bahram to withdraw his complaint in exchange for partial payment.<sup>[1](https://medias.unifrance.org/medias/68/178/242244/presse/a-hero-presskit-english.pdf)</sup>

**The found coins.** Rahim's girlfriend Farkhondeh (Sahar Goldust), his son's speech therapist, finds a woman's handbag containing 17 gold coins. Selling them would not yield enough to clear the debt, so Rahim instead launches a public campaign to return the bag to its owner, counting on the publicity to restore his reputation.<sup>[4](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/a-hero-debt-ridden-prisoner-streets-gold-family-finance-asghar-farhadi)</sup> A woman comes forward, television and newspaper coverage follows, and a local charity collects donations to pay off his debt.<sup>[4](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/a-hero-debt-ridden-prisoner-streets-gold-family-finance-asghar-farhadi)</sup> The prison authorities promote the story, eager for good publicity after the suicide of an inmate protesting prison conditions.<sup>[9](https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/a-hero-movie-review/2022/01/05/6cd06e86-6d8b-11ec-b9fc-b394d592a7a6_story.html)</sup>

**The unraveling.** Rahim's account of how the bag was found, built of what one reviewer calls "wobbly semi-facts, though not exactly lies", begins to fall apart under scrutiny.<sup>[10](https://time.com/6133422/a-hero-review/)</sup> A skeptical official demands proof that the woman who lost the bag exists, and when Rahim cannot find her he persuades Farkhondeh to pose as her.<sup>[11](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jul/13/a-hero-review-asghar-farhadis-realist-tale-is-just-too-messy-and-unsatisfactory)</sup> As doubts spread, public admiration turns to suspicion, and Rahim returns to prison at the end of the film, unable to repay his debt.<sup>[12](https://cinej.pitt.edu/ojs/cinej/article/download/706/774)</sup>

## Themes and style

Farhadi described the film's subject as "the rise and fall of a person; of somebody who is taken and put in the spotlight without doing anything for it and all of a sudden is taken down from it". [Social media](https://www.edgepedia.org/social-media) entered the story as the tool that makes such rapid ascents and descents possible, alongside newspapers and television.<sup>[13](https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/2021/07/16/cannes-2021-asghar-farhadi-on-accruing-friends-and-enemies-with-international-success/)</sup> He deliberately avoided showing screens on camera, choosing instead to depict the consequences of online judgment; in his view social media "tries to explain a very complicated situation in very small elements and few words".<sup>[14](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/asghar-farhadi-interview-a-hero/)</sup>

The film examines Iranian institutions as much as individuals: a bureaucratic system whose demands for evidence can entangle anyone, a prison and a charity that each need a good news story, and a culture in which reputation is, in Farhadi's words, "a treasure, an asset".<sup>[15](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2021/ghahreman-a-hero-iranian-society-as-seen-by-asghar-farhadi/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[3](https://sightlines.media/film/672208/a-hero-2021)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[16](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2022/meet-asghar-farhadi-member-of-the-feature-films-jury/)</sup> One scholarly reading describes the film as tracing "the tragic transformation of a hero into an anti-hero under the pressures of moral perfectionism" and a social cycle of "powerlessness—cunning deception—distrust".<sup>[17](https://cinema.iranicaonline.org/article/the-decolonization-of-collective-self-criticism-in-iranian-cinema/)</sup>

Visually the film keeps to Farhadi's established manner: minimal camera movement, no musical score, and negotiations staged in cramped offices, with traffic noise standing in for music.<sup>[18](https://www.wbur.org/news/2022/01/06/asghar-farhadi-a-hero-film-review)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[4](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/a-hero-debt-ridden-prisoner-streets-gold-family-finance-asghar-farhadi)</sup> Farhadi cast his daughter Sarina Farhadi as Nazanin, as he had in *A Separation*.<sup>[15](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2021/ghahreman-a-hero-iranian-society-as-seen-by-asghar-farhadi/)</sup>

## Origins and plagiarism dispute

Farhadi said the idea came from press stories he had read for years about ordinary people briefly celebrated for an altruistic act; the film was not based on one specific news event.<sup>[1](https://medias.unifrance.org/medias/68/178/242244/presse/a-hero-presskit-english.pdf)</sup> In 2014 he had led a student workshop at the Karnameh Institute of Arts and Culture in Tehran making a documentary on the heroization of people who find and return valuable objects.<sup>[19](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/culture/article/2022/06/10/cinema-iranian-director-asghar-farhadi-and-his-film-a-hero-accused-of-plagiarism_5986337_30.html)</sup>

After the film's release, former student Azadeh Masihzadeh, who directed the documentary *All Winners, All Losers* from that workshop, filed a plagiarism complaint in Iran. In April 2022, reports said a Tehran court had found Farhadi guilty of violating her copyright; Farhadi's attorney argued that the underlying 2012 story of a Shirazi prisoner was already published in mass media and in the public domain, so no one could claim exclusive ownership of it.<sup>[20](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2022-04-05/asghar-farhadi-a-hero-plagiarism-student)</sup> Separately, on November 17, 2021, Farhadi had publicly called on Iranian officials to withdraw the film from Oscar consideration after an anonymous critic called him "pro-government".<sup>[21](https://undertheradarmag.com/interviews/asghar_farhadi_on_his_new_film_a_hero)</sup>

## Reception

The film won the Grand Prix at Cannes, shared with *Compartment No. 6*, and was Iran's entry for the Best International Feature Film Oscar.<sup>[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/press/press-releases/all-the-74th-festival-de-cannes-awards/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[6](https://www.dga.org/events/2022/january2022/gcs_ahero_1120)</sup> Critics broadly praised its moral intricacy and Jadidi's performance, with a Metascore of 82 from 39 reviews and a 97% Tomatometer score.<sup>[7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/a-hero/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_hero)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[3](https://sightlines.media/film/672208/a-hero-2021)</sup> Some reviewers were cooler: Peter Bradshaw in *The Guardian* called the realist tale "too messy and unsatisfactory", and Owen Gleiberman in *Variety* judged it a film that speaks "to our heads more than it does our hearts".<sup>[11](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jul/13/a-hero-review-asghar-farhadis-realist-tale-is-just-too-messy-and-unsatisfactory)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[22](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11777738/criticreviews/)</sup> Several critics noted that the film reads as a study of social media backlash and cancel culture while barely showing a screen.<sup>[23](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/jan/27/how-oscar-tipped-iranian-drama-a-hero-nails-social-media-fallout)</sup>

## References

1. [A Hero press kit, Unifrance](https://medias.unifrance.org/medias/68/178/242244/presse/a-hero-presskit-english.pdf)
2. [All the 74th Festival de Cannes Awards, Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/press/press-releases/all-the-74th-festival-de-cannes-awards/)
3. [A Hero (2021) analysis, Sightlines](https://sightlines.media/film/672208/a-hero-2021)
4. [A Hero review, Sight and Sound (BFI), Guy Lodge, 15 July 2021](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/a-hero-debt-ridden-prisoner-streets-gold-family-finance-asghar-farhadi)
5. [Prix FIPRESCI, Festival de Cannes catalogue](https://www.festival-cannes.com/catalogueofficiel/en/data/texts.pdf)
6. [Director Asghar Farhadi discusses A Hero, DGA](https://www.dga.org/events/2022/january2022/gcs_ahero_1120)
7. [A Hero Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/a-hero/)
8. [A Hero, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_hero)
9. [A Hero movie review, The Washington Post, 5 January 2022](https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/a-hero-movie-review/2022/01/05/6cd06e86-6d8b-11ec-b9fc-b394d592a7a6_story.html)
10. [A Hero Is a Beautiful Drama That Demands a Great Deal of Patience, Time, Stephanie Zacharek](https://time.com/6133422/a-hero-review/)
11. [A Hero review, The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw, 13 July 2021](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jul/13/a-hero-review-asghar-farhadis-realist-tale-is-just-too-messy-and-unsatisfactory)
12. [The Silent Unconscious of the Film and the Deadlock of the Spectators, Cinej Cinema Journal](https://cinej.pitt.edu/ojs/cinej/article/download/706/774)
13. [Cannes 2021: Asghar Farhadi interview, The National](https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/2021/07/16/cannes-2021-asghar-farhadi-on-accruing-friends-and-enemies-with-international-success/)
14. [Interview: Asghar Farhadi on A Hero, Slant Magazine](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/asghar-farhadi-interview-a-hero/)
15. [Ghahreman (A Hero): Iranian society as seen by Asghar Farhadi, Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2021/ghahreman-a-hero-iranian-society-as-seen-by-asghar-farhadi/)
16. [Meet Asghar Farhadi, member of the Feature Films Jury, Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2022/meet-asghar-farhadi-member-of-the-feature-films-jury/)
17. [The Decolonization of Collective Self-Criticism in Iranian Cinema, Cinema Iranica](https://cinema.iranicaonline.org/article/the-decolonization-of-collective-self-criticism-in-iranian-cinema/)
18. [A Hero review, WBUR, 6 January 2022](https://www.wbur.org/news/2022/01/06/asghar-farhadi-a-hero-film-review)
19. [Iranian director Asghar Farhadi and his film A Hero accused of plagiarism, Le Monde, 10 June 2022](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/culture/article/2022/06/10/cinema-iranian-director-asghar-farhadi-and-his-film-a-hero-accused-of-plagiarism_5986337_30.html)
20. [Plagiarism case proceeds against A Hero director Asghar Farhadi, Los Angeles Times, 5 April 2022](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2022-04-05/asghar-farhadi-a-hero-plagiarism-student)
21. [Asghar Farhadi on his new film A Hero, Under the Radar](https://undertheradarmag.com/interviews/asghar_farhadi_on_his_new_film_a_hero)
22. [A Hero Metacritic reviews, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11777738/criticreviews/)
23. [How Oscar-tipped Iranian drama A Hero nails social media fallout, The Guardian, 27 January 2022](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/jan/27/how-oscar-tipped-iranian-drama-a-hero-nails-social-media-fallout)
24. [Newsletter July 2021.pdf, fipresci-india.org](https://www.fipresci-india.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Newsletter-July-2021.pdf)

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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 2020 to 2022*

*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*

*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*

License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license