THE PATIENCE STONE

PIERRE DE PATIENCE

By Atiq RAHIMI

LE PACTE - as SALES All rights, World / DISTR FRANCE

Drama - Completed 2012

The story of a paralyzed man who unconsciously becomes « syngué sabour », a magic stone which, when placed in front of someone shields him from suffering.

Festivals
& Awards

Toronto - TIFF 2012
Contemporary World Cinema
Abu Dhabi FF 2012
New Horizons Best Actress
    • Year of production
    • 2012
    • Genres
    • Drama
    • Countries
    • AFGHANISTAN, FRANCE, GERMANY
    • Languages
    • FARSI
    • Duration
    • 98 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Atiq RAHIMI
    • Writer(s)
    • Atiq RAHIMI, Jean-Claude CARRIÈRE
    • EIDR
    • 10.5240/A5A9-16CD-2F94-7C9A-F5C9-S
    • Producer(s)
    • Michael GENTILE
    • Synopsis
    • The Patience Stone is adapted from the best-selling novel by Atiq Rahimi, translated in 33 languages and winner of the most prestigious book award in France (Goncourt Prize) in 2008.
      Somewhere, in Afghanistan or elsewhere, in a country torn apart by a war... A beautiful woman in her thirties watches over her husband in a decrepit room. He is reduced to the state of a vegetable because of a bullet in the neck, and not only is he abandonned by his companions of the Jihad, but also by his brothers. One day, the woman starts a solitary confession to her silent husband. She talks about her childhood, her suffering, her frustrations, her loneliness, her dreams, her desires...
      She touches him, kisses him, things she could never have done before, even though they have been married for the past 10 years. Therefore, this paralyzed man unconsciously becomes « syngué sabour », a magic stone which, according to Persian mythology, when placed in front of a person shields him from unhappiness, suffering, pains and miseries.
      In this wait for her husband to come back to life, the woman struggles to survive and live. She finds refuge in her aunt’s place, who is a prostitute, and the only relative who understands her. The woman seeks to free herself from suffering through the words she delivers audaciously to her husband. But after weeks looking after him, she will actually reveal herself in the relationship she starts with a young soldier…