Ten (ده) (2002 film)
Ten (ده; also released as 10) is a 2002 Iranian docufiction film directed by Abbas Kiarostami, in which a recently divorced woman drives through Tehran while conversations with her passengers are recorded by two cameras fixed to the car's dashboard. The film premiered on May 20, 2002 at the 55th Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Palme d'Or.1
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / year | Abbas Kiarostami, 2002; original title ده (Dah, "Ten")2 • 3 |
| Production | France and Iran; produced by Marin Karmitz (MK2 Productions) and Abbas Kiarostami Productions2 |
| Runtime / format | 94 minutes; shot on digital video with two dashboard-mounted cameras2 |
| Structure | Ten sequences counting down from 10 to 1, with the driver constant and the passengers varying4 |
| Lead cast | Mania Akbari as the driver; Amina Maher as her son Amin1 |
| Festival history | Premiered May 20, 2002 at the 55th Cannes Film Festival; nominated for the Palme d'Or1 |
| Censorship | Banned in Iran over its discussion of discrimination against women1 |
Spoilers
Premise and structure
The film consists of ten sequences, over an unspecified period of days, in which the driver (Mania Akbari) remains constant while her passengers change. She drives her son four times, her sister twice, an unnamed female passenger twice, and gives rides to a prostitute and an old woman on her way to a temple.4 The conversations cover life, divorce, sex, education, and wearing the headscarf, subjects the Rotterdam festival catalog described as difficult ones in Iran.2
The driver's young son berates her for leaving his father and argues that a prospective stepmother would be "better than you." Her sister loses her husband over the course of her two rides; the unnamed passenger shaves her head after a failed relationship with a man; and the prostitute, whose face is never shown, praises a freedom in never depending on one man.4 Encyclopaedia Iranica describes the car as a forum for discussing women's conditions in Iran, a territory Kiarostami had been accused of neglecting.5
Production method
Kiarostami shot the film almost entirely on digital video using two tiny cameras stuck to the dashboard, one pointing at the driver and one at the passenger, producing a shot and cross shot with no camera movement except a single moment following the prostitute as she walks away from the car.2 • 4 The conversations look natural and improvised, and therefore documentary, but the dramatic buildup of the scenes suggests a writing or guiding hand, a mixture of documentary and fiction that the Rotterdam catalog called a redefinition of the form.2
The director's absence. For Ten, Kiarostami entrusted Mania Akbari, then an artist and later a filmmaker, with driving the car and filming the conversations without his presence. In his earlier car films, the people on screen had talked to the director directly rather than to the actor playing the driver in the reverse shot (Filming technique alternating angles between two speakers).6 The film also found a way of working around Iranian censorship rules, which require any representation of women to be veiled at all times, even in private settings.6 A Los Angeles Times review noted that the scene in which a woman removes her headscarf would probably be censored in Iran.7
Themes and interpretation
Scholarly readings treat the moving car as a mobile, semi-private space in which taboo subjects become discussable and women can exercise agency through mobility choices, in a society where public space is governed by patriarchal watchfulness.8 • 9 The film is placed in a lineage of Iranian cinema that uses the car as both setting and metaphor, alongside Kiarostami's own Taste of Cherry and Jafar Panahi's Taxi, both of which also unfold almost entirely within a vehicle in Tehran.10
Reception and later dispute
The film received positive reviews from critics1 and holds a 7.4 rating on IMDb based on about 9,000 votes, with an 85% score on Rotten Tomatoes.3 Kiarostami followed it with the documentary 10 on Ten (2004), in which he explains the making of the film while driving.5 • 4
Authorship dispute. Since 2020, Mania Akbari has disputed Kiarostami's role in the film and the source of the footage. The film's two lead actresses have called for the distributor to stop screening it, over allegations of plagiarism and abuse by Kiarostami.1
References
- Ten, Google Play Movies listing
- Ten, International Film Festival Rotterdam catalog (IFFR 2003)
- Ten (2002), JustWatch
- Combustible Celluloid review of Ten (Jeffrey M. Anderson)
- KIAROSTAMI, ABBAS, Encyclopaedia Iranica
- Abbas Kiarostami, 1940–2016, Sight and Sound (BFI)
- Worlds apart, Los Angeles Times (Manohla Dargis, 2003)
- Spaces, Networks of Tehran (University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee)
- Research Commons, University of Waikato thesis content
- Tehran through the Window: Cars as Framing Devices in Contemporary Iranian Cinema, Ajam Media Collective
Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026
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