Director: Morteza Fatemi
Cast: Amir Aghaei, Mitra Hajjar, Pejman Jamshidi, Pardis Pourabedini
Bi Madar is a 2022 Iranian drama film directed by Morteza Fatemi, running 84 minutes. It examines what happens when a long-settled couple's wish for a child draws a stranger into the intimate space of their marriage, quietly dismantling certainties they never thought to question.
What is Bi Madar about?
Amir Ali and Marjan are a well-educated, middle-aged couple whose comfortable Tehran routine has long been settled into something resembling contentment. When Marjan grows determined to pursue surrogacy, the arrangement that seemed like a straightforward solution introduces a third presence into their home. As the surrogate's life gradually intersects with their own, the couple finds that what began as a practical contract starts raising questions about ownership, empathy, and what it means to build a family. Neither cruel nor corrupt, both Amir Ali and Marjan are ordinary people who discover that good intentions do not exempt anyone from moral reckoning. The film unfolds without melodrama, letting tension accumulate through small gestures and carefully observed silences.
Cast & crew
The film is directed by Morteza Fatemi. Lead roles are played by Amir Aghaei and Mitra Hajjar as the central couple, with Pejman Jamshidi and Pardis Pourabedini in supporting parts. Aghaei and Hajjar carry much of the film's emotional register through restrained, naturalistic performances that keep the ethical weight of the story grounded in everyday behaviour rather than heightened theatrics.
Context & significance
Surrogacy as a subject sits at the intersection of Iranian law, religious tradition, and modern urban aspiration — a combination that gives Bi Madar a very specific social texture. For diaspora viewers, the film works as a window into the private anxieties of Tehran's educated middle class: the desire for normalcy, the pressure of delayed parenthood, and the discomfort that arises when private arrangements collide with communal expectation. Iranian cinema has a long tradition of embedding large ethical questions inside domestic settings, and Bi Madar belongs firmly in that lineage — modest in scale but precise in its observation of how shared lives can become strange under even small amounts of unexpected pressure.
Where & how to watch
Bi Madar is available on K-Time with original Persian audio and Persian subtitles. You can watch on the web, your TV, or your phone — no VPN needed, no geo-blocking, and cancel anytime.