Within 11 days, with her father's help, the younger Makhmalbaf shot an entire feature about the story. More amazing still, she persuaded the girls, Massoumeh and Zahra Naderi; the father and mother; and various neighbors to play themselves. This despite the fact that the 17-year-old director was only five years older than her twin subjects. To tell the story, the Makhmalbafs devised situations, and the Naderis "responded" to them on camera.

The result isn't exactly documentary; in fact, the director has been criticized in Iranian papers for placing the Naderis in prankish situations, like a neighbor boy bonking the blind mother with a dangling apple. But it isn't some gauzy reality-vs.-illusion debate, either. It's more like the uncertainty principle extended to daily life: How does the world change when we poke a camera into it, and is it possible even to call the results of such an intrusive process the truth? This question is central to the great movies coming out of Iran in recent years.