Director: Bahman Farmanara

Cast: Reza Kianian -Hediyeh Tehrani -Ezatolah Entezami -Bita Farahi-Behnaz Jafari -Mehdi Safavi

Khaneyi Rooye Ab (A House on the Water) is a 2002 Iranian surrealist drama directed by Bahman Farmanara, weaving together one man's fractured conscience, an encounter with the otherworldly, and the quiet devastation of a family coming apart at its seams.

What is Khaneyi Rooye Ab about?

On an ordinary night drive, Dr. Sepidbakht strikes what he believes is a figure on the road — only to discover, with a wounded hand that will not heal, that something far stranger has entered his life. As days pass, the injury becomes a kind of mark: doors open to buried memories, a father grown distant and old, a son who drifted westward and came back changed by addiction, complicated bonds with women from earlier chapters of his career, and a pair of unnamed men shadowing his every move with unclear but threatening intent. The film moves through these layers without urgency, assembling a portrait of a man who has spent decades looking away from himself.

Cast & crew

Bahman Farmanara directs a cast of Iranian cinema's most respected figures. Reza Kianian carries the film as Dr. Sepidbakht with his trademark stillness. Hediyeh Tehrani and Behnaz Jafari bring emotional texture to the women in his orbit, while Ezatolah Entezami, one of Persian cinema's most beloved presences, gives quiet gravity to the ailing father. Bita Farahi and Mehdi Safavi round out an ensemble working in complete register.

Context & significance

Farmanara returned to Iranian cinema with this film after years away from directing, and its surrealist register carries the weight of that long absence. For diaspora viewers, the film speaks to recognizable tensions: the son who emigrated and returned hollow, the father who aged while everyone was looking elsewhere, the professional life that filled the space where a real one might have been. Its dreamlike pacing and symbolic imagery place it in the tradition of Iranian art cinema that prizes interiority over plot, and its 2002 release coincided with a moment of renewed international attention on Iranian filmmaking.

Where & how to watch

Khaneyi Rooye Ab is available to stream on K-Time in original Persian audio. No VPN is needed and there is no geo-blocking — watch from anywhere on web, connected TV, or phone. Subscribe and cancel anytime.