Not Without My Daughter

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Brian Gilbert directs. Peter Hannan behind the camera. Jerry Goldsmith scores. Ofer Bedarshi cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in Persian, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 135 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
• 2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Persian, English.
• 3Directed by Brian Gilbert, shot by Peter Hannan. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 4Original score by Jerry Goldsmith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 5Editor Ofer Bedarshi shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 6Sally Field and Alfred Molina and Sheila Rosenthal carry the top of the cast.
• 7Marketing tagline: "In 1984, Betty Mahmoody's husband took his wife and daughter to meet his family in Iran. He swore they would be safe. They would be happy. They would be free to leave. He lied.".
• 8IMDB entry: tt0102555 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 9Classified under 11 themes, including "daughter", "escape", "persia", "married couple".

The technical file

Cinematography

Peter Hannan

Original score

Jerry Goldsmith

Editing

Ofer Bedarshi

Production design

Anthony Pratt

Costume design

Nic Ede

Makeup / hair

Zivit Yakir

Runtime

116 min · 1h 56m

Status

Released

Box office

$14,789,113

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

PG-13

IMDB

Not Without My Daughter (1991) ↗

Also by

Brian Gilbert

• 
  The Frog Prince

  1985 · ★ 7.8
• 
  Sharma and Beyond

  1984 · ★ 7.0
• 
  Wilde

  1997 · ★ 6.6
• 
  Tom & Viv

  1994 · ★ 6.1
• 
  Vice Versa

  1988 · ★ 5.8
• 
  The Gathering

  2003 · ★ 5.6

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Not Without My Daughter (1991) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD]

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Wuchak2021-04-19
  ★ 7/10

  American mother & daughter ‘imprisoned’ in an alien culture of a strict Muslim country In 1984, an Iranian doctor in Michigan (Alfred Molina) insists on visiting his family back home after ten years and insists that his wife (Sally Field) & daughter come along for a 2-week trip. They are horrified to discover that the doctor has no intention of going back to America and holds them hostage in Tehran with his family, abusing the wife. To make matters worse, Iran was at war with Iraq at the time and bombing raids on Tehran were not uncommon. Can they make it back alive? "Not Without My Daughter" (1991) is based on Betty Mahmoody's real-life account of the same name, co-written by William Hoffer and published in 1987. The movie reminded me of “Midnight Express” (1978), which is interesting since Hoffer also co-authored the book that movie was based on, published in 1977. Both stories are about Americans trapped in Muslim nations. Everyone knows Turkey isn’t so religiously strict, but Billy Hayes in “Midnight Express” was stuck in prison there and it was a harrowing experience (read the book as it’s naturally more factual than the movie). Betty wasn’t in prison in Iran yet she was still very much a prisoner and the experience was just as harrowing. The movie doesn’t paint all Iranians as evil, as some criticize. It just shows how the rights of women are seriously limited in such a legalistic patriarchal society. It also effectively shows how an otherwise good person can become an altogether different one under the influence of a dubious communal spirit. This happens all the time. Have you ever had a friend who acted one way in private, but very differently in a social situation with questionable peer pressure? Perhaps you yourself have done this; I have. It’s the same principle in this movie except that the “community spirit” and corresponding peer pressure involves male-dominated Islamic culture and the mistreatment of women. The daughter wrote her account of what happened in her 2015 book “My Name is Mahtob,” which basically corroborates her mother’s version of events while trying to be sympathetic to her father. She became a Christian and essentially points out how genuine Christians (as opposed to nominal ones) are persecuted in America by the secular religion of LIEberalism, which is ironic since America is supposed to champion religious & ideological freedom. It’s just a different kind of persecution than what Mahtob & her mother experienced in Iran. The film runs 1 hour, 55 minutes, and was shot mainly in Neve Ilan, Isreal, but also Ankara, Turkey (the closing scenes) and Atlanta, Georgia (the Michigan scenes). GRADE: B

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• UF

  Ufland

• MG

  MGM-Pathé Communications

  US

• 

  Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

  US

Key crew

• NovelBetty Mahmoody
• NovelWilliam Hoffer
• ProducerHarry J. Ufland
• ProducerMary Jane Ufland
• EditorOfer Bedarshi
• EditorTerry Rawlings
• StuntsKoby Azarly
• Costume DesignNic Ede
• Set DecorationAnat Avivi
• Art DirectionDesmond Crowe
• Art DirectionAvishay Avivi
• Production DesignAnthony Pratt
• CastingJudy Taylor
• CastingJoyce Gallie
• CastingMike Fenton
• Associate ProducerAnthony Waye
• Makeup ArtistZivit Yakir
• HairstylistLena Talmore
• Foley ArtistGlenn Freemantle

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• daughter
• escape
• persia
• married couple
• violent husband
• islam
• based on true story
• travel
• iran
• shia islam
• persian family

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical1991-01-11PG-13

Also known as

International titles

• Non senza mia FigliaIT