- This article is about the movie. See House of Sand and Fog (novel)
for the book.
House of Sand and Fog is a 2003 movie based on the
novel of the same name written by Andre
Dubus III. The movie, starring Ben Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly, was directed by Vadim Perelman. It was
Perelman's first directorial outing aside from shooting commercials.
Plot
An Iranian immigrant, Col Massoud Amir Behrani (Kingsley), who fled Iran during times of
conflict, now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Working odd jobs to support
his family, he keeps up the appearance of being a respected businessman so as not to shame his family, his wife Nadireh
(Shohreh Aghdashloo), his son Esmail (Jonathan
Ahdout), and his daughter Soraya (Navi Rawat). When given the opportunity to invest in
a house being auctioned cheaply because of an unpaid tax, he does so with the intention of renovating the house and selling it
for profit. He is overjoyed to learn that the house will be worth four times that which he paid for it.
The previous owner, Kathy (Jennifer Connelly), who inherited the house from her
father was wrongly evicted from the house due to a government error regarding taxes. She attempts to regain her house and during
this time she meets a married policeman named Lester (Ron Eldard), with whom she begins an
affair and falls in love.
After many futile attempts to get her house back, and believing that Lester has left her to return to his wife, she resolves
to kill herself. Finding Lesters police gun in her car she attempts suicide in the driveway of her former home. Upon seeing the
attempted suicide Colonel Behrani rushes outside and takes the gun from the distraught Kathy, the Behrani family take her in
where Mrs. Behrani draws Kathy a bath. As the Behrani family discuss the situation Kathy makes another attempt on her life using
pills from Mrs. Behrani's medicine cabinet.
Lester comes looking for Kathy at her former home and sees Esmail Behrani siting in the kitchen with his police gun. Esmail,
who does not know that Lester can see him, inquisitively reaches towards the gun, Lester smashes a glass pane in the kitchen door
and rushes in taking his gun. He sees Colonel and Mrs. Behrani carrying Kathy from the bathroom and due to his obsession with
Kathy and his outrage, takes the family hostage by locking them in the bathroom overnight. He resolves to force Colonel Behrani
to sell the house back to Kathy, he demands that Colonel Behrani and the son Esmail drive to the county offices to complete the
transaction.
On the way to the offices, so as to free his family and believing he has been previously encouraged by his father so to do,
Esmail Behrani seizes Lester's gun. Colonel Beharani grabs Lester and shouts for help. Two policemen respond. However, not only
do the policemen recognize Lester but he is still wearing his police uniform. To the policemen it seems that a fellow officer is
being held at gunpoint. Esmail Behrani, still holding the gun, turns towards the policemen and is shot by them.
In the hospital Colonel Behrani prays for his son, offering future good behaviour in exchange for his sons life. As he does so
a doctor enters the room. Colonel Behrani's son Esmail has died of his wounds.
Taken over by grief, Colonel Behrani returns home and rather than tell her that their beloved son is dead, drugs his wife's
tea. She quietly dies. Colonel Behrani takes his wife's body to their bedroom lays her on their bed. He dons his uniform, checks
himself in the mirror sits next to his wife and tapes his uniforms plastic dust cover around his head. Their bodies are found by
Kathy. Kathy attempts to revive the asphyxiated Colonel Behrani with CPR,
but she is unsuccessful. As the bodies are being taken away by the paramedics, a policeman asks Kathy if the house is hers. After
a pause for consideration, she replies "no".
Cast
Soundtrack
Awards
The film was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Original Score (James Horner),
Best Actor (Ben Kingsley) and
Best Supporting Actress (Shohreh Aghdashloo).
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
