Born in 1938 in Tehran, Farah Diba met the Iranian monarch Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in Paris, while she was an architecture student.
By marrying him, she became the third wife of the last shah, and the first empress in the history of Iran upon her husband's coronation. The young sovereign then became a popular international figure, notably for her charisma and her commitment to numerous social projects, which made her a driving force for modernization for the country. But she also suffers the disapproval aroused by her husband's repressive regime.
In 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini took power and established an Islamic Republic. The imperial family flees. After the death of the Shah in 1980, the former empress retired to Paris where destiny continued to rage against her. In 2001, his youngest daughter, Leila, took her own life.
Ten years later, it was the turn of his youngest son, Ali-Reza. Tracing her tumultuous life, the documentary follows Farah Pahlavi in Paris, then on trips to Egypt and Venice. Archive documents, unpublished photographs and private amateur films animate this portrait.
“Farah Diba Pahlavi, the last empress”
Director: Géro Von Boehm
© ARTE - Interscience GmbH - 2018
