UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE/ Une langue universelle

Canada, 2024, 89 minutes, Colour.

Matthew Rankin, Pirouz Nemati.

Directed by Matthew Rankin.

Something of an enigmatic title. And, throughout the film, there are any number of enigmas to tantalise the audience (put off any of the audience who might declare themselves bewildered). However, it is worth simply entering the film, accepting its enigma and style, going with the flow (which, in fact, is in many directions), accepting that we have no idea where it is a leading, more and more relishing the strange mix of characters, situations, deadly serious moments, so many humorous moments, many visual and verbal jokes.

This is a Canadian film, Canada not having a universal language. But, writer-director, Matthew Rankin, has been a strong admirer of Iranians films, especially in the 1990s-2000s, the focus on children, children and parents, strange characters and adventures, and visual storytelling. It is made the decision to use Farsi as the main language of this film, no English, some moments of French.

And the setting of the story is Winnipeg (everybody thinking it is in Alberta and the characters insisting it is the capital of Manitoba!). And there are some scenes in Quebec/ Montréal but it is the city that people leave for Winnipeg. With the dialogue all in Farsi, Farsi signs all over the city, very much a look like Iran, critics have said that the film is situated somewhere between Teheran and Winnipeg.

The film has a distinctive visual style. Often the camera is placed at a distance, static shots of buildings, arches, with interactions in the background of the scene (the city having beige and grey neighbourhoods). At times are very vivid close-ups. In the opening is disconcerting, a long shot of classroom building, viewing through the window the children mucking around, the severe teacher arriving, taking control and systematically bullying and humiliating the students, then walking out after sending them all into the cupboards.

Where is this going? And the answer to that question is that audiences will have to go and see for themselves.

Matthew Rankin appears as a character, called Matthew Rankin (audiences perhaps finding it very hard to reconcile this somewhat reclusive character with the writer and director of all this imaginative plotting). He is returning from Montréal to visit his mother. He encounters a range of characters, especially Massoud, a guide around the so-called sights of Winnipeg, an empty mall, police not allowing loitering, a public bench where an unopened bag was left in 1978…!!

And, there are some children, a little boy who has lost his glasses, two little girls who go to help him retrieve then from the turkey which attacked him (and, by the way, turkeys are prominent throughout the film, in TV commercials, in restaurants, bus passengers…) who find expensive note buried in the ice of the street.

Actually, it does all come together in the end, quite surprisingly, and more than a suggestion that being humane is the universal language.

(This reviewer, both bewildered and entertained, decided to look at some of the reviews of Universal Language and was quite delighted with critics listing so many moments that were arresting, funny, enjoyable, that it is well worthwhile looking at the lists, making one’s own list, to appreciate how much meaningful detail there was throughout the film.   Try   https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2025-02-13/universal-language-review-matthew-rankin-guy-maddin

 https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/universal-language-film-review-2025)

1. The impact of the film, serious, comic, absurdist? Canadian made, Canadian perspective, images of French Canada, Québec, Montréal, images of English Canada, Winnipeg?
2. The title, language, the decision to use Farsi, hearing it, the signs in Farsi lettering, the characters, Canadian appearance, Iranian appearance?, And that the setting is somewhere between Teher the tour of the city, an and Winnipeg? The visuals, the cultural references?
3. Audiences going with the flow, situations, characters, episodes, connections, interactions, everything coming together at the end? Shared humanity?
4. The visual style, fixed camera sequences, observing action from afar with a static camera, close-ups by contrast? Beige and grey buildings and districts? The insertion of the television ads, humorous and satiric?
5. The opening, the school, the children playing up, the teacher arriving, his introduction, with-it, questioning the children, humiliating them, Omid and his glasses, asking the children what they wanted to be, the variety of answers, the boy as Groucho Marx, the teacher insulting them, sending them all into the cupboard? His leaving?
6. Omid, lost glasses, the fight with the turkey, two girls finding the expensive bill in the ice, encountering Massoud, his sending them away, all the sequences of their trying to find the tools, asking directions, the shops, reactions, kindly, unkindly, the return, the note gone? Suspicions of the stranger?
7. Matthew Rankin, to return to Winnipeg, the interview with the government boss, fat, eating the turkey, the sounds of the bureaucrat weeping in the stall? On the bus, sitting next to the teacher, audiences realising that this was before the classroom episode? The lady with the turkey sitting next to her on the bus, Matthew asleep, the bus breaking down, his getting to the city?
8. Tour of the city, the group, complaints, 30 minutes silence, the founder of Winnipeg and the tribute, the empty mall, the briefcase on the bench…?
9. Matthew, wandering the city, watching the tour guide, going to the restaurant, the turkey, the man singing the song about the turkey? The girls arriving, asking his help, his going with them, the money gone? This meeting up with Massoud, Massoud and his family caring for Matthew’s mother, the family living with the mother, the revelation that Omid was his son? And that he had taken the ice with the money?
10. The girls arriving to see Omid, seeing that Massoud had taken the ice with the money, recognising Matthew? His mother and care for the family?
11. Massoud, taking the ice back, burying it, his prayer?
12. The strands of the plot all coming together? In favour of universal language of humanity?
13. The after-effect of the film, reflecting on it, the conceit of having a city between Teheran and Winnipeg, Farsi language, the satirical aspects, the serious aspects, the role of the children, compared with the adults? And reflecting on so many entertaining moments?