Chess of the Wind
DECEMBER 11, 2025 | 7 PM | PHILOSOPHICAL RESEARCH SOCIETY | 7TH HOUSE SERIES | INTRODUCTION
7th House is proud to present the restoration of a breathtaking Iranian gothic masterpiece — Mohammad Reza Aslani’s CHESS OF THE WIND (1976)! Screened publicly just once before it was banned and then lost for decades, this rediscovered jewel of Iranian cinema reemerges to take its place as one of the most singular and astonishing works of the country’s pre-revolution New Wave.
A hypnotically stylized murder mystery awash in shivery period atmosphere, Chess of the Wind unfolds in an ornate, candlelit mansion where a web of greed, violence, and betrayal ensnares the heirs to a family fortune as they vie for control of their recently-deceased matriarch’s estate. For its gorgeous cinematography, Aslani infused the film’s daytime scenes with inspiration from Joannes Vermeer and with inspiration for George de La Tour for its eerie and evocative night scenes, as well as the look of Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon and the color tinting of early silent cinema. Melding these influences with those of European modernism, gothic horror, and classical Persian art, director Mohammad Reza Aslani crafts an exquisitely controlled mood piece that erupts in a stunningly subversive final act in which class conventions, gender roles, and even time itself are upended with shocking ferocity.