Prominent Iranian filmmaker Dariush Mehrjui and his wife, Vahideh Mohammadifar, tragically lost their lives in a fatal stabbing incident at their residence.
On the fatal stabbing of Dariush Mehrjui and his wife in the suburbs of Tehran, state media reported the incident on October 15, with the official IRNA news agency quoting a statement from judiciary official Hossein Fazeli.
As per reports, Dariush Mehrjui sent a text message to his daughter, Mona, at about 9pm local time inviting her for dinner at their home in Karaj, west of Tehran. But upon her arrival an hour and a half later, she found the bodies of her dead parents with fatal wounds to their necks.
Dariush Mehrjui, celebrated as one of the pioneers of Iranian cinema was born in Tehran in 1939 and made significant contributions to the Iranian new wave of cinema.
His 1969 film “The Cow” was one of the early works associated with this movement. After leaving Iran following the 1979 Islamic revolution, he lived in France and continued his cinematic endeavors, including directing “Hamoun” in 1990, which depicted the life of an intellectual dealing with divorce and psychological turmoil in a rapidly changing Iran.
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Mehrjui’s work often delved into the lives of women, as seen in films like “Sara,” “Pari,” and “Leila.” He drew inspiration from renowned filmmakers like Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni but remained committed to the idea that art should not be a propaganda tool.
To Mehrjui, cinema was like “poetry, which cannot take sides with anyone” and he remained adamant that “art must not become a propaganda tool”.
Beyond his film career, Mehrjui made significant contributions to Persian literature through translations of works by playwright Eugene Ionesco and philosopher Herbert Marcuse. His legacy in Iranian cinema and cultural contributions continue to be celebrated.
