Dead Heat Under the Shrubs

Synopsis

As the sun rises over the Iranian desert on a morning like any other, a boy leaves his home to collect shrubs to sell at the market. At the same time, a desperate woman sets out in her battered jalopy to dump the body of her lover into the well. He is the only witness to her crime and he must die. She guns the engine and sets off after him; he runs for his life, using the textures and secrets of the desert to evade her. This Hitchcockian pursuit leads us through ancient ruins, goatherds' cottages, underground aqueducts and finally to the boy's house and a gory, sudden end. The boy's rising desire for revenge and the woman's deteriorating health and increasing disorientation mean that the original reason for the chase is quickly forgotten, as is the distinction between pursuer and pursued.