This article reexamines the representation of female protagonists in FilmFarsi melodramas of the Pahlavi era through a close analysis of Dancer of the City (Raqqaṣe-ye Shahr), Mr. Jahel (Āqā-ye Jāhel), Only Mr. Mehdi Can (Faqqat Āqā-ye Mahdī Mitavānad), and Back and Dagger (Posht va Khānjar). It challenges dominant interpretations of women’s roles in this period’s popular cinema by drawing on Linda Williams’ analysis of Stella Dallas to explore how female characters navigate patriarchal narratives through resistance, sacrifice, and solidarity with other women, often exceeding or subverting the intentions of their creators.

Rather than viewing these portrayals as mere chastisements for transgression, this article argues that they assert independent female subjectivity, capable of contesting the male gaze through an empathetic “female look.” The article also considers the reception of these characters by female audiences, suggesting that the mutual identification, empathy, and dialogue evoked by the protagonists’ struggles may have contributed to the formation of an alternative feminine public sphere within a patriarchal context.

By framing melodrama as a medium that facilitates female dialogue and solidarity, this article complicates analyses of FilmFarsi shaped by classic feminist film theory, which often foreground the patriarchal intentions of these films at the expense of examining how female spectators might have engaged with them. The article highlights the ways in which these films, despite their patriarchal underpinnings, created spaces for women to recognize and reflect on shared experiences of struggle and resilience, enabling subtle forms of resistance and solidarity both among female characters on screen and between the films’ female audiences and their protagonists.