After Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s latest film received two awards at the Cannes Film Festival in France, the director and both of the leading actors in the film have all been the subject of various controversies in their home country of Iran.

“The Salesman” earned Farhadi the best screenplay prize and Shahab Hosseini the best male actor award, the only film at Cannes to win two prizes this year. Farhadi became an internationally recognized name after becoming the first Iranian to win an Academy Award for his 2011 film "A Separation," which won best foreign language film. "A Separation" was also nominated for best original screenplay.

The Cannes awards, however, were followed by scrutiny and criticism from the Iranian media. Saeed Mahdavi wrote in the hard-line Kayhan newspaper that "The Salesman" won two awards even though many critics believe the film was at “a lower level” than the director’s previous work. Mahdavi added that despite this, it still was predictable that Farhadi's film would win the awards.

Mahdavi’s major issue with the film was how it addressed the issue of rape, saying the movie portrayed “the defense of family honor and dignity as fanaticism and violence." He accused the film of depicting “traditional and ethical behavior” as being inferior to “intellectual character.”