Director: Behrooz Shoeibi

Cast: Reza Attaran, Hanie Tavassoli, Mohammad Reza Shirkhanloo

Dehliz is a 2013 Iranian drama-crime film directed by Behrooz Shoeibi, starring Reza Attaran in a role that departs from his comedic persona. The film examines the fragile bonds between fathers and sons, the weight of past crimes, and the long shadow that incarceration casts over families trying to rebuild.

What is Dehliz about?

Behzad has spent years inside a prison cell, serving time for an act of manslaughter he committed before his son ever knew him. His child grew up without a father, shaped by absence and the half-truths that surround it. When the two are finally brought into each other's lives, the son must wrestle with conflicting loyalties — the father he longed for against the stranger who now stands before him. As both men struggle to find common ground, the family embarks on a difficult journey to the home of the victim's relatives, hoping to secure the forgiveness that could unlock Behzad's release. What unfolds is a quiet, tense negotiation between guilt, grief, and the possibility of reconciliation.

Cast & crew

Reza Attaran, one of Iran's most versatile screen performers, anchors the film with a restrained, lived-in performance that shows a very different range from his well-known comic work. Hanie Tavassoli brings emotional depth as a key family figure, while Mohammad Reza Shirkhanloo rounds out the central trio. Director Behrooz Shoeibi guides the ensemble with a steady, observational hand.

Context & significance

Dehliz sits within a strong tradition of Iranian social realism that examines the justice system not as an abstract institution but as a force that reshapes families from the inside out. Films in this lineage often focus on the aftermath — the gaps left by punishment — rather than the crime itself, and Shoeibi follows that approach carefully. For diaspora viewers who carry memories of Iran's legal and social structures, the film's portrait of a family navigating qisas (retributive justice) and seeking consent from a victim's relatives will feel both culturally specific and deeply human. It is a film about the corridors — the dehleez — between guilt and forgiveness, between estrangement and belonging.

Where & how to watch

Dehliz is available on K-Time in its original Persian audio. You can watch on the web, on your TV, or on your phone — no extra download, no VPN, and no geo-blocking for the Iranian diaspora worldwide. Subscribe and cancel anytime.