The belated sensuality in the films by Mohsen Makhmalbaf : from apology of heroic masculinity to female alternative narratives : return to the roots of aesthetics as a way of knowledge

This article aims to describe the transformation in the films by Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf who started his career as a propaganda filmmaker in the newly established Islamic Republic of Iran. He continued his artistic search adopting polemic attitude and the new strategies based on sensual perception entered his cinema, that emphasized humans' phenomenological reality, not theological imaginings. Instead of resorting to the traditional cinematic ploys of oppositional filmmakers, such as subversive dialogue, or political symbolism, in movies Gabbeh (1996) and Silence (1998) Makhmalbaf choses the pleasure of the interacting senses. These alternative performative strategies are characterized by individualized narration and their protagonists are far from the patterns of hegemonic masculinity and femininity.