Director: Alireza Raiysian

Cast: Ezatollah Entezami, Leila Hatamikia, Mohammad Reza Forotan

Chehel Salegi (Love at 40) is a 2010 Iranian drama film directed by Alireza Raiysian, exploring the emotional upheaval that follows when a middle-aged married woman unexpectedly crosses paths with a man from her past — a reunion that quietly unsettles the life she has built.

What is Chehel Salegi about?

Negar has settled into a comfortable routine: a stable marriage, a professional role at a music company. When her employer tasks her with coordinating a visiting Iranian expat orchestra conductor, she finds herself standing across from someone she once knew deeply — a former partner she had long left behind. The encounter reopens chapters she considered closed, forcing her to weigh loyalty, longing, and the version of herself that might have been. Raiysian keeps the drama grounded in everyday moments rather than grand gestures, letting the tension build through glances and silences as much as through spoken confrontations.

Cast & crew

Veteran actor Ezatollah Entezami brings decades of Iranian screen presence to the film, lending gravity to every scene he occupies. Leila Hatamikia portrays Negar with measured restraint, conveying an interior struggle through subtle shifts in posture and expression. Mohammad Reza Forotan appears as the returning figure whose arrival sets the story in motion.

Context & significance

Iranian drama of the 2000s frequently explored the tensions between private emotional lives and social expectations, and Chehel Salegi sits squarely within that tradition. For diaspora viewers who left Iran around middle age — or who watched their parents navigate similar crossroads — the film's premise carries an added layer of recognition. The music-industry setting gives the story a cultured, urban Tehran backdrop that resonates with viewers from that milieu. Raiysian's measured pacing reflects an Iranian cinematic sensibility that prizes psychological realism over melodrama, a style that travels well across borders and speaks to audiences already attuned to that register.

Where & how to watch

Chehel Salegi is available to stream on K-Time with original Persian audio. No extra download and no geo-blocking — watch on the web, on your TV, or on your phone. Membership can be cancelled anytime.