Commentary: Flowers of Evil

Flowers of Evil presents itself as an exploration of how the Internet both connects and divides us. While the film uses the Internet to demonstrate the very real impact the Iranian conflict has on a young Iranian girl who is sent to Paris to escape the violence, and the Muslim-Parisian lover she finds there, the Internet is merely a vehicle to showcase the human stories that dominate the movie. Though entrenched in trying to examine the polarizing nature of how we use the Internet, Flowers of Evil is less about the Internet itself and more about the boy and the girl we watch fall in love and grow up. Yes, their relationship is sparked via Facebook after their initial meeting, but had they only had phones, one is led to believe the boy would have manned up, gotten the pretty Iranian girl’s number, and called her up. The Internet’s real role is to divide the girl’s mental space between the life she left behind in Iran and the new life she is finding in Paris, her lover being no small part of it.

Like the girl’s mind, the film is divided between Youtube videos portraying violence in Iraq, Twitter messages outlining what is happening there, and romantic scenes of the two lovers exploring Paris (these are fictional). The documentary footage is seamlessly incorporated with staged scenes. Interspersed between both the fictional scenes and the YouTube videos from Iran is real footage of the male character dancing. Interestingly, he is a real person whose background is the same as the boy in the film, but the plot of the movie is entirely fictionalized. The fact his character is based on his real life persona has little impact on the film, except to make him more a more nuanced character. Tying all of these disparate elements together is a carefully chosen and inspired soundtrack. Through the development of the love story, which is the plot thread that drives the film forward, we explore the human side of Iran’s unrest and the character’s respective desires to find themselves and grow up. Interestingly, the Internet seems to divide the couple as much as it brings them together. Yet, through the Internet’s unfiltered and unlimited access to all information and worlds, and the impact it has on their lives, the boy and girl seem to come to better understand themselves.  One wonders, however, if it is the Internet or their love that caused their respective realizations.