Iranian Actress Taraneh Alidoosti Praised For Defiance After New Documentary

A new documentary about the acclaimed Iranian actress Taraneh Alidoosti, detailing her outspoken support for the “Women, Life, Freedom” protests, has ignited a powerful reaction across Persian-language social media.

Directed by Pegah Ahangarani and broadcast on December 24 by BBC Persian, Taraneh: A Documentary offers an intimate portrait of the prominent actress, who reflects on Iran’s mandatory head scarf law, feminism, artistic responsibility, and the personal consequences of political dissent.

Alidoosti also discusses her arrest, imprisonment, and struggle with an autoimmune disease that sidelined her from public life for nearly a year.

Alidoosti was detained in December 2022 after months of vocal solidarity with protesters following the death of Mahsa Amini in morality police custody and her condemnation of the executions of demonstrators, including Mohsen Shekari. Her detention drew widespread international condemnation, and she was released on bail two and a half weeks later.

Since her release, the Salesman star has refrained from participating in Iranian cinema. In the new documentary, she appears on camera without the compulsory headscarf for the first time, declaring firmly that she will “under no circumstances” act while wearing a headscarf again.

Her comments on artists’ social responsibility and criticism of a film industry “lagging behind society” have resonated widely online. Many users on X hailed her as a symbol of courage and agency for Iranian women, emphasizing her persistence despite professional exile and health challenges.

Social media users praised her openness, posture, and confidence on screen, seeing in Alidoosti a reflection of the “self-determined Iranian woman.”

One widely shared post on X stated that “Taraneh Alidoosti proved that choosing courage comes at a cost,” while others hoped such bravery would “one day become a habit, not an exception.”

In one striking scene, the documentary shows Alidoosti swimming in a Tehran pool wearing a swimsuit — a rare and highly symbolic act of defiance in the Islamic republic. The moment recalls her unreleased film Orca, about a female swimmer striving to break a Guinness world record, which was denied screening permission by Iranian authorities.

Reflecting on that banned film, Alidoosti says, “Back then, I had to act as a swimmer who swam in clothes. But that’s not acceptable anymore. People will laugh.”

Prominent film journalist Mina Akbari described the documentary as a “historic act of saying no.” Others credited Alidoosti’s words for keeping the memory of the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement alive amid Iran’s ongoing political and economic crises, calling her voice “wounded but unyielding.”

Following the Iranian Culture Ministry’s confirmation that she and several other actresses had been banned from working, Alidoosti wrote on Instagram: “If I’m no longer acting in your films, don’t think even for a second that it’s your doing. I will not wear the cloth that killed my sisters for your movies.”