Jessica Weiss thoughts on "The Cow"

      While watching the film “The Cow” by Mehrjui many thoughts ran through my head. After reading the analysis of film maker Mehrjui and of the writer of the work of fiction the movie was adapted from “The Cow” by Saedi, I had even stranger thoughts. In the beginning I felt sympathetic to the man, the mentally challenged son of Saffar being tortured, until later in the movie I realized he maybe was in on the fun. During the movie, I kept waiting for that to play a role, but the focus was more on Hassan and his odd love for the cow. Because my mind always seems to go to 'dirty' thoughts, I kept wondering why anyone would prefer a cow to the company of their wife. I fully realize that because I was raised on American films where everything, especially children's films (often with animals) is sexualized. So, while Hassan giggling madly while feeding and bathing his cow, getting jealous when others (the village children) try to touch his cow, might seem 'platonic', I just can't help wonder if Hassan's love had an underlying bestiality aspect to it, especially since his love drove him to insanity as he jumped down a cliff.

       Another recurring thought of mine is why would anyone make a film that is sort of about a man's love for his cow, but also about a town who seems to have to think really hard just to come up with a really terrible idea that the beloved cow ran away while pregnant, that winds up not even working? Fortunately, the reading cleared up some of my questions, and I know see the more in-depth and philosophical side of the film and of the literary writer Saedi. Dabashi writes that Saedi was revolutionary in his thinking about anxiety, stress, and psychosis. As a psychiatrist and sociologist, his travels enabled him to scientifically analyze people and then portray it ingeniously. He came up with many fictional pieces of work that were meant to show that man has a reality that is commonly known ie agreeing this book is in fact a book, and then a man simultaneously has his own reality that gives meaning to the book unique to himself, but that he still just calls reality.

       For Hassan it seems the cow was his whole life, some would argue his whole being, as he basically becomes the creature he loved (121). This idea of transmigration is something that has been around for centuries in the Islam religion and present in Persian stories and culture. Realizing the significance of transmigration makes me feel silly for not seeing it in the film, but honestly I couldn't get passed all the strange grunting and heavy petting Hassan displayed on camera, especially as it contrasted all the other rather mild and typical old-school scenes of this black and white film. As a 23 year old movie lover, I have been brain-washed to expect flashiness in my films, and for the film makers to basically slap you in the face with the theme. With that being sad, I much prefer the ambigiousness of “The Cow” and believe that if I were to watch it again, I would have much more to think about in terms of the psychological aspects of the film.