Phantom Maelstrom

Golshifteh Farahani as she appeared in Madame Le Figaro. The subsequent posting on her Facebook page drew both criticism and praise from around the world.

An Iranian actress who has starred with Leonardo DiCarpio and Russell Crowe has been banished from her home country of Iran because she posed nude in a French news magazine.

The actress was none other than Golshifteh Farahani, a beautiful Iranian actress. She says she has been contacted by the Iranian government, telling her that she is no longer welcome in the country and advising her not to return home.

The offending photo was a black-and-white art shot featuring the 28-year-old Farahani posing against a black backdrop with her hands strategically placed over her breasts. It was first published in Madame Le Figaro.

Farahani became the first Iranian to star in a Hollywood film with her role as Aisha in Body of Lies, with Leonardo DiCarpio.

The image was then posted on her Facebook page, drawing visitors from around the world, including from Iran and the Middle East.

While many criticized her "indecency", others praised her for "the courage to remove a taboo among the women in Muslim countries."

Iran's anger at the image is not just because of Farahani's nudity, but also because she has made it known that her decision to pose is in protest against restrictive Islamic codes.

Golshifteh Farahani

That was also the reason why the now-Paris-based actress left Iran last year.

She told the Daily Telegraph that she was told by a ministry of culture and Islamic guide official that Iran does not need any actors or artists. "You may offer your artistic services somewhere else."

Farahani has had a mercurial relationship with her home country.

She began acting in a theater at the age of six and her first film, The Pear Tree (1998), earned the then 14-year-old Farahani the Best Actress award at Iran's annual Fair Film Festival.

She immediately became a leading actress in her home country, yet her performance in the 2007 film Santouri has never been seen in Iran and is still banned.

She starred in M for Mother (2006), which after a huge success in Iran, was chosen to represent Iran for the Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards in 2008.

Farahani's role as a nurse in Ridley Scott's Body of Lies (2008), which also starred Hollywood big-hitters DiCarpio and Crowe, made her the first Iranian to act in a major Hollywood film.

As a result she was banned from leaving Iran, and now that she has left the country and is living in Paris, she was banned from returning.

Nevertheless, at least, she was brave to cross the line of traditional Islamic conservatism that only few would dare. To Iran, she may have been a disgrace, but to the modern day world, she was a heroine. Farahani only fought for herself - fighting for the right of being herself, and no fundamentalism could stop her.

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