The digital release of Love Child, Eva Mulvad’s extraordinary documentary about an Iranian couple in exile, prompts a look at the myriad ways of putting refugee lives on screen
The European refugee crisis has inspired so many films in recent years that the subject practically qualifies as a genre in itself, encompassing as broad a spectrum of originality and artistic value as any other. Some documentaries follow a familiar if heart-tugging template; others hit you squarely between the eyes with perspectives you haven’t previously seen or considered.
Danish director Eva Mulvad’s documentary Love Child (multiple VOD platforms), falls in the latter category. Its story is a simple one, but the patience and intimacy with which it is told give the film its unusual, building power. Over the course of six years it follows Iranian lovers Sahand and Leila as they flee their homeland and attempt to settle in
Turkey while dreaming of a permanent escape to the US. Leila is leaving behind an abusive marriage, having given birth to Sahand’s illegitimate son; execution awaits if they return. In Turkey they’re alive, but everything about their new life – from their boxy, featureless apartment to Sahand’s menial employment – feels temporary. Their asylum-seeking process, meanwhile, stretches on indefinitely, seemingly lost in the vast pile of other, war-ravaged refugees’ applications.