  
Three Iranian women must contend with a repressive political regime that has placed a stranglehold on nearly every aspect of their lives in this hard-hitting social drama. In a nation where a woman cannot buy a bus ticket out of town or accept a car ride from a man, much less have an abortion, it's not difficult for women to find themselves on the wrong side of the law. Arezou (Maryiam Parvin Almani), Nargess (Nargess Mamizadeh), and Pari (Fereshteh Sadr Orafai) are left to fend for themselves after leaving an Iranian penal institution. Arezou and Nargess want to get out of town, but as they try to buy tickets to another city, find they must resort to prostitution to do it. Pari is in even worse straits; she's discovered she's pregnant, but she can't legally obtain an abortion without a husband's permission. Pari searches for help among former cellmates Monir and Elham, both of whom are now unhappily married, while learning just how many desperate women roam the streets of Iran. As one might expect, Dayereh was highly controversial in Iran and was initially banned by the government, though it received a limited release after winning the Golden Lion at the 2000 Venice Film Festival.
— Mark Deming
Review:
Jafar Panahi's unsettling look at the modern dilemma of Iranian women in society has many scenes that unfold with suspenseful assurance, but the director's lack of clarity mars his overall intentions. The film is unable to decide whether it is a straightforward drama or a highly accentuated piece of cinéma vérité, leaving the viewer more than a little narratively disoriented. The camera moves with surprising fluidity, but the mark is missed in the film's overall obviousness. Devices such as the use of prison-like visuals to highlight the women's sense of entrapment are overdone and fail to let the viewer watch the film with a sense of learned awareness. The movie too often overstates its intentions, and while it is inconceivable that anyone would be uninterested in such gripping source material, the drama is often stifled and the lack of differentiation in its storytelling eventually proves defeating. The Circle, quite controversial in its homeland, was the winner of the 2000 Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion.
— Jason Clark
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