Director: Morteza Zolfaghari Nasab

Cast: Kobra Goodarzi, Solmaz Hesari, Afsaneh Naseri

Tehran London is a 2019 Iranian drama film directed by Morteza Zolfaghari Nasab, exploring the quiet tensions of domestic life through two couples whose fates become entangled within the walls of a secluded estate outside the city.

What is Tehran London about?

Ava and Ashkan, an affluent couple, have withdrawn from city life to a sprawling house on the urban fringe, attended by their caretaker pair, Maryam and Rahim. What begins as a seemingly comfortable domestic arrangement slowly reveals deeper fractures — differences of class, loyalty, and unspoken longing that have long simmered beneath polite surfaces. As the two couples spend more time together in close quarters, the boundaries between employer and employee, intimacy and service, begin to erode. The film is driven by mood and restraint rather than incident, allowing characters to reveal themselves through glances, silences, and small daily rituals that carry unexpected emotional weight.

The K-Time take

Zolfaghari Nasab keeps the camera close and the pacing deliberate, trusting his cast to carry the film's quiet unease. The result is an intimate chamber piece that rewards patient viewers with a gradually tightening sense of psychological tension — the kind of Iranian domestic drama that says most by leaving much unsaid.

Cast & crew

The film brings together Kobra Goodarzi, Solmaz Hesari, and Afsaneh Naseri in the central roles, anchoring the drama with naturalistic performances. Director Morteza Zolfaghari Nasab has crafted a tight, small-cast piece that relies on the chemistry and restraint of its performers to sustain its measured, introspective tone throughout.

Context & significance

Iranian domestic dramas have long occupied a central place in the country's cinema tradition — from the intimate realism of Abbas Kiarostami to the social tensions of Asghar Farhadi's family studies. Tehran London fits within that lineage: a story set in a single location, built around class divisions and the compressed worlds of a household. For diaspora viewers, this kind of film resonates for its familiar emotional landscape — the way Persian-language storytelling often finds its richest territory in the spaces between people rather than in outward action. The title's pairing of Tehran and London hints at a wider frame of reference, gesturing toward the distances — geographic, social, and personal — that shape Iranian lives today.

Where & how to watch

Tehran London is available on K-Time with the original Persian audio. Watch on the web, your TV, or your phone — no VPN needed, no geo-blocking, and cancel anytime.