When Politics Upend Family Life

At the outset of the absorbing and pertinent “Maryam,” the Armins of suburban New Jersey seem a typical affluent American family, to themselves and to their neighbors. That Dr. Armin (Shaun Toub), while loving and good-humored, is stricter than other fathers is the only apparent trace of his Iranian heritage. His daughter, Mary (Mariam Parris), born in Iran as Maryam and brought to the U.S. as an infant, is a beautiful, easygoing high school student, not quite ready to chafe at her father’s restrictions. She feels no connection to her homeland and has no interest in it either.

All that is about to change, drastically, for the year is 1979. In the wake of the Islamic revolution, the deposed shah of Iran has ended up in a Manhattan hospital for treatment of his terminal cancer--and Armin’s nephew Ali (David Ackert) has arrived to stay while pursuing a college major in physics. Right away, Mary is unsettled by the arrival of her cousin, a Muslim fundamentalist who shrinks in horror at her attempt to embrace him in welcome.

Although Ali is fluent in English, he is a stiff, formal man in the throes of cultural shock. He also carries considerable emotional baggage because of a family incident in the past, but Armin, as his sole relative, has extended him traditional Persian hospitality.

The tension Ali’s presence creates in the harmonious Armin household is soon intensified beyond the family’s imagining, as Iranian students storm the U.S. Embassy in Iran, taking prisoners in protest of the shah’s presence in the U.S.

The prolonged international incident fans Ali’s hatred of the shah while the Armins become targeted for ugly anti-Iranian acts, the same sort of mindless treatment accorded to countless Americans in the wake of Sept. 11.

At school, Mary, who previously had never been made to feel different from her classmates, is shunned and derided. The worsening situation in turn fuels Mary’s desire to assert her independence and to get the full story about why Ali holds such resentment toward her father.

Iranian American filmmaker Ramin Serry, in an assured feature writing and directing debut, has woven his film from actual experiences of his family and its circle of friends, which gives “Maryam” its strong sense of having been created from within.

What shines through their ordeal is the Armins’ strong, sustaining sense of family, exemplified by Mary’s lovely and wise mother (Shohreh Aghdashloo), a woman with a mind of her own but also a shrewd and subtle mediator. Aghdashloo, a distinguished stage actress, recalls Melina Mercouri in her sultry looks, husky voice and radiant presence.

Serry proves as adept at directing actors as he is at writing for them.

Parris, Ackert and Toub give complex, sharply defined portrayals, with Maziyar Jobrani providing some light relief as a happy-go-lucky family friend and Victor Jory proving effective as Mary’s would-be boyfriend, a nice kid overwhelmed by all that’s happening to Mary and her family.

“Maryam” is carefully crafted, notably in its deft dramatic structuring, and has become timely in a way its maker could never have anticipated.

Unrated. Times guidelines: complex mature themes.

‘Maryam’

Mariam Parris ... Mary Armin

David Ackert ... Ali Armin

Shaun Toub ... Dr. Darius Armin

Shohreh Aghdashloo ... Mrs. Armin

A Streetlight Films release. Writer-director Ramin Serry. Producer Shauna Lyon. Executive producer Cyrus Serry. Cinematographer Harlan Bosmajian. Editor Gary Levy. Music Ahrin Mishan. Costumes Nancy Brous. Production designer Petra Barchi. Art director Michelle Lang. Length: 1 hour, 28 minutes.

At the Music Hall, 9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, (310) 274-6869, and Laemmle’s Fallbrook 7, 6731 Fallbrook Ave., West Hills, (818) 340-8710.