Character Relationship Map: K

Characters

• Robert/Explorer/Mr. Wese (played by Oz Phillips) — protagonist

  As the Explorer, he is the man who arrives at the penal colony and encounters the Officer's bizarre apparatus. The synopsis provides no direct action for his Mr. Wese identity, but his Explorer role p...

• Face in the Monitor (played by Shoja Azari) — protagonist
• Housekeeper (played by Shirin Neshat) — supporting

  She is the maid or housekeeper seen scrubbing the floor in the story about the married couple. Her action is brief and observational rather than central, but it helps establish the domestic setting su...

• Father/Officer/Schmar (played by Mohammad Ghaffari) — supporting

  In the domestic story, he is the father in the upstairs bedroom with his wife and their ill adult son. In the penal colony, he is the Officer who demonstrates the apparatus that inscribes punishment o...

• Sales Agent/Victim/Pallas (played by Rick Poli) — supporting

  As the Sales Agent, he calls on an old customer whose family is gathered upstairs around an ill adult son, while another salesman may take the opportunity from him. In the fratricide story, his Victim...

• Son (played by Heaven Lee Darling) — minor

  He is the ill adult son whose bedroom forms the setting for the married couple's encounter. His condition draws his father and mother upstairs and shapes the tense domestic situation observed by the v...

• Mother (played by Ann Parker) — minor

  She is the mother and wife present with the father in the upstairs bedroom of their ill adult son. Her presence makes the salesman's visit a family scene rather than a simple business call, but the sy...

• Soldier (played by Shahram Karimi) — minor
• New Commandant (played by Hamid Farjad) — minor
• Mrs. Wese (played by Mitra Ghamsari) — minor

  She is the grieving woman in the story of fratricide. After a man is murdered at night by someone who knows him well, she represents the immediate emotional aftermath of the killing. The synopsis supp...

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Soldier → Father/Officer/Schmar (Professional Subordinate) — Soldier assisting the officer in 'In the Penal Colony'
• Father/Officer/Schmar → New Commandant (Professional Superior) — Officer demonstrating the apparatus to the commandant in 'In the Penal Colony'
• Housekeeper → Father/Officer/Schmar (Professional Employee) — Maid working for the family in 'The Married Couple'
• Sales Agent/Victim/Pallas → Father/Officer/Schmar (Professional Salesman) — Salesman visiting the customer in 'The Married Couple'
• Mother → Son (Family Mother) — Mother of the ill adult son in 'The Married Couple'
• Father/Officer/Schmar → Son (Family Father) — Father of the ill adult son in 'The Married Couple'
• Robert/Explorer/Mr. Wese → Mrs. Wese (Family Husband) — Married couple in 'The Married Couple' segment

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Sales Agent/Victim/Pallas → Robert/Explorer/Mr. Wese (Conflict Competitor) — Salesman competing with another salesman in 'The Married Couple'
• Father/Officer/Schmar → Face in the Monitor (Conflict Interrogator) — Officer interacting with the face in the monitor in 'In the Penal Colony'

Story Analysis

Three interconnected stories exploring human relationships and existential themes

Plot Progression

1. The Married Couple — A salesman visits a family with an ill son, while a maid cleans and a second salesman creates disorienting changes.
2. In the Penal Colony — A new commandant arrives at a penal colony where an officer demonstrates a bizarre punishment apparatus.
3. Fratricide — A man is murdered at night by someone he knows well, followed by a woman's grief.