In his masterful third feature, Panahi visualises the cruel absurdities women are subjected to in Iran – resulting in the film being banned there. (And yet, the prize it won at Venice is displayed in Tehran’s Cinema Museum: the regime still wants to promote the overseas successes of Iranian cinema.) The heroines of The Circle are poor, and several have just been released from prison (their apparent crimes go unspecified). Panahi films them with an empathetic gaze, focusing on everyday difficulties: they can’t travel alone, nor check into a hotel; a hijab is not sufficient coverage to enter a hospital. An emotionally gripping realist work in which oppression is shown to begin at birth, and the fates of all women are linked.