There will be spoilers of Farsan in this blog entry. 
The first film I went to see in the Seattle International Film Festival was Farsan. The film centers on Aziz, an older man seeking a new lady. Aziz is a first generation Middle Eastern immigrant to Sweden who works in a bicycle shop. He lives a quiet life but is seeking some more companionship as he misses his deceased wife. He is looking forward to the expected birth of his first grandchild and is seeking a new wife.
Ethnicity is highlighted in this film mostly through Aziz and Aziz's coworker Juan. The expressions of ethnicity are also very deeply tied to masculinity. In the case of Juan's ethnicity is not specifically stated, but he is a Spanish speaker and shows some elements of the Latin Lover. He is an older 'ladies man' who has multiple dates and dances with mulitple women. He even ends up serving lamb testicles claimed as an aphrodisiac at a double date with Aziz. Aziz's ethnicity is explored in his interactions with women that could be regarded as more culturally suited for an older time and his nation of origin. His dress and a hasty marriage proposal to one woman show this. As well, Sami, Aziz's son feels a great pressure from his father to have grandchildren and carry on the seed, so much so that Sami and his wife fake a pregnancy approaching a pending adoption to cover up Sami's infertility. Aziz displays some traits of a stereotypical first generation immigrant parent. Though traits of these stereotypes are visible the characters have more complexity beyond these traits. Though this film did not pass the Bechdel test for gender it passed for race (counting Middle Eastern people as a race).
The emphasis on masculinity among the characters of Aziz and Juan is also shown in their relationship with each other. They often say "Macho, Macho" after their displays or stories of masculinity and talk about how 'well endowed' they are. Their macho masculinity transfers to their boss Jörgen after Jörgen expresses that he has sex with his wife less often than the other men find fitting. Aziz takes Jörgen under his wing to teach him how to be macho and win more affection from his wife. Aziz takes him on fulfilling extreme dares pushing him out of a car and down mounds of rocks to 'make him strong.' Jörgen takes proving his masculinity to an extreme by picking fights with his wife, Lotta to assert control, getting a tattoo of a bull that says 'DEATH' and making a "macho salad" crushing vegetables hilariously with his body for Lotta. Lotta rejects this new behavior and wants him to return to his 'wimpy' self. Jörgen's character shows the extremes that proving masculinity can go to and how comical it can be trying to achieve unattainable standards of gender roles.
Overall, I enjoyed this film quite a bit and would recommend it to other SIFF goers and felt it had a thought provoking commentary on masculinity.
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Nice job Kala. I like the way you weave together the intersections of ethnicity and gender in this film!
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