The first feature from Marziyeh Meshkini (Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s wife) is an intense, allegorical triptych covering the challenges of life as a woman in Iran. Whether depicting a girl separated from her male playmates when she “becomes a woman,” a surreal bicycle race between chador-clad young women, or an elderly widow on a shopping expedition, Meshkini highlights systems of possession and oppression, as well as moments of resistance. Putting a defiantly feminist spin on the Makhmalbaf Film House’s adept blend of documentary realism and dreamlike fable, The Day I Became a Woman is “an astonishing directorial debut” (Stephen Holden, New York Times).