Asghar Farhadi was convicted of copyright infringement in Tehran last Monday.

The court found him guilty of plagiarizing a documentary for his film A Hero that one of his former students made seven years ago.

In the West, such verdicts easily have a political connotation, especially since Farhadi is not one of the favorites of the Iranian regime, whose political failures he ruthlessly exposes in the social panoramas of his films.

But in this case the situation is more complicated.

Andrew Kilb

Feature correspondent in Berlin.

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Farhadi had Azadeh Masihzadeh, the documentary's author, sign a waiver of sorts before filming "A Hero" began.

However, when Masihzadeh saw the finished film, she filed a lawsuit.

Farhadi responded with a counterclaim for defamation.

If convicted, Masihzadeh would have faced two years in prison and seventy-four lashes.

She was acquitted.

For Farhadi, the judge's decision means that he, as the co-producer of the film, must transfer all the cinema revenues from Iran to the plaintiff.

Meanwhile, his lawyer announced that the verdict was only an interim result, and that the proceedings were ongoing.

That sounds like a Farhadi story.

And indeed, the process that is being conducted around "A Hero" has something in common with the drama that the film portrays, only that on screen it is not about author's rights, but about reputation and honor, about the social shell of the ego .

But money plays a major role in both cases.

In the film, it's the amount that Rahim, a bankrupt small business owner, has to pay back to his ex-brother-in-law if he wants to get his prison sentence reduced.

On a day off, the opportunity arises because Rahim's girlfriend Farkhondeh has found a bag with gold coins at a bus stop.

But the amount he could redeem with it is not enough;

also Rahim gets scruples.

He uses a notice to look for the owner of the gold, and when a woman answers, he hands her the bag.

His supervisor in prison finds out and tells the story to a radio reporter.

Rahim becomes the hero of the day.

But he reckoned without his debtor.

When he's asked to prove his good deed, he can't find the woman he gave the gold to, and a white lie to protect Farkhondeh makes him a hate figure on social media.

The Rock Tombs of the Kings as a key image

Farhadi develops the morality of the rise and fall of an Jedermann with the same ruthless accuracy with which he dissected the moral concepts of the Tehran bourgeoisie in "Everything about Elly" and "Nader und Simin".

But in "A Hero" he also provides a visual key to deciphering the story.

The film begins at the rock tombs of Naqsch-e Rostam, where the kings of the Achaemenid and Sassanid empires had their inscriptions and equestrian reliefs carved in stone.

Two and a half millennia later, radio, television, and the Internet form the ephemeral cliffs of fame.

But as quickly as Rahim's trail fades, so does the narrative that accompanies his fall, illuminating the dark backdrops of Iran's present, the economic crisis triggered by Western sanctions,

The true story on which "A Hero" is based was first filmed by Azadeh Masihzadeh.

But only Farhadi gave it a weight that goes beyond the individual case.

The legal dispute over authorship continues.

The film has already won the artistic competition.