Melodrama is the same in any language - whether it's English or Persian, as is the case with the Iranian drama The Last Supper, histrionics are histrionics. A potboiler directed by Fereydoun Jeyrani, The Last Supper concerns Iranian architecture professor Mihan Mashreghi (Katayoun Riahi), who after 26 years of marriage, is encouraged to seek divorce by her daughter Selareh (Atila Pesiani).

The twist comes when mother and daughter become infatuated with the same man - leading to increased tension and ultimately, a murder. Said murder opens the film and the rest of the narrative unfolds in flashback, but there's not much mystery as to who pulls the trigger. Jeyrani establishes characters well, but dooms himself by beating the audience over the head with his theme ("Hey! Women are treated poorly in Iran! Look at me!"). This lack of subtlety really undermines any kind of goodwill generated by the acting - which is fairly decent.

The Last Supper is a film that may appeal to natives of Iran or aficionados of the region's cinema but casual fans or the curious will likely be turned off by the heavy-handed nature of this well-intentioned but ultimately pointless melodrama.

The Video:

The Last Supper is presented here in a non-anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen transfer that looks as though an iffy VHS dub was dumped straight to disc. There's an incredible amount of video fuzz and grain as well as distinct lack of sharpness near the edges of the image. A very poor looking transfer.

The Dolby 2.0 stereo, presented in its native Persian with forced English subtitles, is strident, harsh and occasionally tinny - music competes with dialogue and the effect is tiring over the course of the film. Like the visuals, a poor effort here.

The only extra contained on the disc is a full-screen theatrical trailer for The Last Supper that, strangely enough, features that single-note piano theme from Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut - perhaps to entice fans of that film?

A film that means well and would be intriguing were it not for the obvious nature of the screenplay, The Last Supper is pretty much skippable unless you've a weak spot for Iranian cinema - then it's a rental at best.