The Deep Voice of Silence: The Aesthetics of Trauma and the Shadow of Oppression in Iranian Cinema

Year 2025, Volume: 9 Issue: 2, 485 - 519, 29.12.2025

Selami Kardaş

https://doi.org/10.33201/iranian.1742802

Abstract

This article examines representations of psychological trauma, moral ambiguity, and existential loneliness in contemporary Iranian cinema through the narrative and symbolic function of silence. In Abbas Kiarostami’s Taste of Cherry, Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation, and Majid Majidi’s The Color of Paradise, silence is employed not merely as the absence of speech, but as a form of expression that intensifies repressed emotions, traumatic memory, and existential questions that cannot be articulated. Drawing on psychoanalytic theory (Freud, Lacan), trauma studies (Caruth), and existential psychology (May, Yalom), the analysis demonstrates that silence represents defense mechanisms such as repression and denial at the individual level; while under socio-political pressures, it simultaneously provides resistance and a space for reflection. The findings reveal that silence in these films is not simply a narrative technique, but a multi-layered representation of psychodynamic defenses, traumatic memory, and existential anxiety. Within the Iranian context, silence further functions as an aesthetic form of resistance against censorship, social pressures, and cultural taboos. Thus, silence emerges as a poetic expression that conveys both individual suffering (e.g., Razieh’s pregnancy trauma and Termeh’s moral dilemma) and collective memory (e.g., Heshmat’s inability to accept his son’s disability, patriarchal norms, and religious contradictions), inviting the viewer into a profound moral and emotional engagement. Overall, the study demonstrates that integrating psychoanalytic, trauma, and existentialist perspectives opens new possibilities for film analysis, and that Iranian cinema has developed a distinctive narrative language through its complex use of silence.

Keywords

Silence , Trauma , Loneliness , Iranian Cinema , Film Analysis

Sessizliğin Derûnî Sesi: İran Sinemasında Travmanın Estetiği ve Baskının Gölgesi

Abstract

Bu makale, çağdaş İran sinemasında psikolojik travma, ahlaki belirsizlik ve varoluşsal yalnızlığın temsillerini sessizliğin anlatısal ve sembolik işlevi çerçevesinde incelemektedir. Abbas Kiyarüstemi’nin Kirazın Tadı, Asgar Ferhadi’nin Bir Ayrılık ve Mecid Mecidi’nin Cennetin Rengi filmlerinde sessizlik, yalnızca konuşma eksikliği değil; bastırılmış duyguların, travmatik belleğin ve dile getirilemeyen varoluşsal soruların yoğunlaştığı bir ifade biçimi olarak kullanılmaktadır. Psikanalitik kuram (Freud, Lacan), travma çalışmaları (Caruth) ve varoluşçu psikoloji (May, Yalom) ışığında gerçekleştirilen çözümleme, sessizliğin bireysel düzeyde bastırma ve inkâr gibi savunma mekanizmalarını temsil ettiğini; toplumsal-siyasal baskılar karşısında ise direnç ve düşünme alanı sunduğunu göstermektedir. Bulgular, sessizliğin bu filmlerde yalnızca bir anlatı tekniği olmadığını; psikodinamik savunmaların, travmatik belleğin ve varoluşsal kaygıların çok katmanlı bir temsiline dönüştüğünü ortaya koymaktadır. Ayrıca İran bağlamında sessizlik, sansür, toplumsal baskı ve kültürel tabulara karşı estetik bir direniş biçimi olarak işlev görmektedir. Böylece sessizlik, bireysel acılar (örneğin Razieh’in hamilelik travması ve Termeh’in ahlaki ikilemi) ile kolektif hafızayı (örneğin Haşim’in oğlunun engelini kabullenemeyişi, ataerkil normlar ve dini çelişkiler) yansıtarak izleyiciyi derin bir ahlaki ve duygusal katılıma davet eden poetik bir ifade alanına dönüşmektedir. Çalışma, psikanalitik, travma ve varoluşçu kuramların birlikte kullanılmasının sinema analizlerinde yeni imkânlar sunduğunu ve İran sinemasının bu bağlamda özgün bir anlatı dili geliştirdiğini göstermektedir.

Keywords

Sessizlik , Travma , Yalnızlık , İran Sineması , Film Analizi

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