Director: Kaveh Mazaheri
Cast: Sousan Parvar, Mahdokht Molaei, Soroush Saeidi, Mohsen Kiani, Morteza Khanjani
Botox is a 2020 Iranian-Canadian dark comedy-thriller directed by Kaveh Mazaheri, blending sharp social satire with mounting suspense as two sisters construct an increasingly elaborate fiction to conceal the sudden absence of their brother from family and neighbors.
What is Botox about?
Akram and Azar are two middle-aged sisters living in a quiet Tehran household. When their troubled brother vanishes under circumstances they refuse to explain, the pair concoct a cover story — he left for Germany, they insist, pursuing a better life abroad. What begins as a convenient half-truth slowly mutates into something far more consuming. Relatives press for details. Neighbors ask questions. Each new inquiry forces the sisters deeper into their own fabricated world, and the weight of maintaining the deception begins to fracture their relationship. The film follows how the lie grows its own momentum, pulling both women toward a reckoning neither anticipated.
Cast & crew
Director Kaveh Mazaheri, known for his incisive short films, makes a striking feature debut with Botox, demonstrating precise control of tone throughout. Sousan Parvar and Mahdokht Molaei anchor the film as the two sisters, delivering performances of quiet intensity that sustain the uncomfortable tension the premise demands. Soroush Saeidi, Mohsen Kiani, and Morteza Khanjani provide strong support in roles that press the sisters' fabrications to their breaking points.
Context & significance
Botox arrived at an interesting moment for Iranian cinema that reaches beyond its borders — co-produced with Canada and shot partly in Tehran, it carries the particular unease of domestic secrets in a conservative social environment where appearances are fiercely maintained. For diaspora viewers, the film's portrait of two women managing perception within a tight-knit family network will resonate on a personal level. The comedy here is dark and uncomfortable rather than warm, rooted in the very Iranian dramatic tradition of concealment — what is said, what is left unsaid, and what the gap between the two costs.
Where & how to watch
Botox is available on K-Time with original Persian audio. No VPN is needed and there is no geo-blocking — watch on the web, on your TV, or on your phone. Subscription is month-to-month with no lock-in; cancel anytime.