Original subtitles

(ominous music)

- [Narrator] This breath-taking scenery can be found in one

of the most mysterious countries in the world,

the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Today, the most important ceremony

of the year, Achoura, is taking place.

The religious leaders, the mullahs, are commemorating

the martyr Imam Hussein.

(man speaks in foreign language)

This spiritual leader that they venerate is one of

the founding father of Shi'ism,

a minority sect within Islam.

He was killed in the seventh century

by other Muslims, the Sunnis.

(traditional music)

In order to commemorate this murder,

and the pain of Hussein, when the sermon is over,

men publicly whip themselves.

Then everyone gets covered in mud as a sign that each one

of these Iranians is prepared to be buried with the Imam.

(traditional music)

In Iran, woe betide the person

who does not take religion seriously,

as that is how all the rules are dictated.

In this country, Sharia law is observed.

Practically everything is forbidden: drinking alcohol,

owning a dog, and of course, going outside with a veil.

In this religious dictatorship, the death penalty

is regularly applied, even to children.

Iran is the country that executes the most,

just behind China.

In 2016, nearly 900 people were executed,

of which 5 were minors.

Adultery or homosexuality are punishable

with the death penalty, as is drug trafficking.

But as you will see, the younger generation,

hungry for freedom, do break the rules,

sometimes endangering their lives.

(suspenseful music)

This evening, we have been invited to a secret gathering

in an upmarket neighborhood of Tehran.

In Iran, there is no bar or nightclub,

so the parties are held in apartments.

Inside, there are a dozen students, boys and girls mixed,

who are listening to music.

Tattoos, dyed hair.

We are a long way from the image that

the mullahs would want Iran to show.

This evening, we could almost believe we were in Paris.

Only here, what these young people are doing is forbidden.

- Everywhere you wanna go, you have to be

scared of the police.

Like, they're gonna come here,

they're gonna take you, you know?

And I have experience with it.

- [Jacques] You can tell us about the experience?

- Actually, if it's not gonna be,

if it's not gonna make any trouble for me.

- [Jacques] No, nothing like that.

- Okay.

One time, we were partying, we were like 20 people, just 20.

And they came and took us away and it was so scary.

Ever since then, I'm very scared.

Everywhere I go, I just imagine them coming in

and taking us away again.

And they hit us.

- [Narrator] Another law that's broken at these events:

the clothes they were are considered provocative

through religious eyes.

- [Jacques] Can you go out like that?

- [Female Speaker] Yeah, but if they catch me,

I could go to jail.

- [Narrator] For wearing this slim cut pair of jeans

which show her knees, this young woman risks

being detained for 12 days.

Her friend has no qualms about mocking the regime.

- [Jacques] Do you never go to the mosque?

- [Male Speaker] Yeah, I go to mosque to pee.

- [Female Speaker] I don't, I don't even pee there!

- [Narrator] This young woman who never goes to the mosque

is going to break another law tonight.

The most dangerous.

This very important phone call is to order some alcohol.

- [Jacques] You are the expert for the alcohol?

- (laughs) No, I just know the guy.

(laughs)

How does it work?

You get to know these people from your friends and then

you get their numbers, and whenever you want,

you just call them, they bring it to you

or send it with a taxi.

And then you just pay online.

- [Jacques] Is that all?

It's that easy?

- Yes.

(laughs)

- [Narrator] Despite the laughter,

fear can be felt everywhere.

The owner of the apartment asks us

to move the camera further away.

- [Male Speaker] I don't want you to see the address.

- [Narrator] Awaiting the delivery, in the kitchen,

the group are breaking Sharia law again.

- [Male Speaker] Everything is possible.

- [Jacques] You don't get in trouble?

- [Male Speaker] Sometimes, but you can solve it.

Alcohol, yeah, they are more sensitive on alcohol.

- [Narrator] 15 minutes later, the vodka arrives.

Bear in mind that the consumption of alcohol

is punishable with 40 lashes.

Repeat offenders can face the death penalty.

- [Male Speaker] Cheers.

- [Narrator] In this country, where their future

seems bleak, the younger generation are prepared to take

all sorts of risks in order to escape from

the daily drudgery imposed by the mullahs.

This thirst for life that the Iranian youth have

can be felt throughout the city.

Tonight, from our hotel room, we detect

that there is another secret party going on,

this one is a lot less discrete.

(electronic music)

Breaking the law and risking one's life has almost become

par for the course in Iran, especially among young people.

The under 35s represent more than 50% of the population,

and they want to live in the Western way, to free themselves

from the religious laws that are suffocating them.

(calm music)

In order to make this film on forbidden Iran

and to avoid censorship by the regime, we have come here

as a couple, as if we were just tourists.

A man and a woman with camcorders,

we are Jacques and Sophie.

Taking advantage of newly opened direct flights from Paris,

we are headed for Tehran, the capital of this country

sandwiched between Iraq and Afghanistan.

We risk months of imprisonment if

the police catch us with our footage.

In order to understand how Iran was plunged

into religious dictatorship, we have to go back fifty years.

During the 60s, the country was led by a king, the Shah.

(ominous music)

At the time, Tehran, the capital, was a modern city,

women wore skirts, not scarves.

They even had the right to vote.

Thanks to royalties paid by petrol companies,

the Shah became enormously wealthy.

It could even be said he lived in opulence.

(cheering)

(orchestral music)

- [Narrator] But while the Iranian elite

do well out of this economic progress,

the working classes are getting poorer and poorer.

From 1978, people started to take

a stand against such great inequalities.

In the face of this popular front,

the Shah gave up his power.

He was never to return.

At the same time, the Shah's main opposition,

an Iranian religious chief, was preparing for a revolution.

He was living in France.

The Ayatollah Khomeini found refuge in Neauphle-le-Chateau

in the Parisian suburbs.

Upon his return to Iran, the Ayatollah was hailed leader.

(chanting)

He became the supreme leader, the leader

of the Iranian revolution.

Religious rule was henceforth above political power.

Khomeini set up a moral police force, a militia comprised

of four million agents, the Bassijis.

Today, they still oversee the good conduct

of 80 million Iranians.

They're on every street corner but also

in the parks and even on the ski slopes,

they're everywhere, ready to serve.

Underground inquiry into one of

the most oppressive religious dictatorships in the world.

(percussion music)

The foot of the Elbourz mountains, Tehran.

One in five Iranians live here,

that's more than 15 million inhabitants.

In this capital, two worlds bustle along together.

On the one hand, the old city, traditional, with its bazaar,

its mosques, its mullahs.

In another, a modern city with its buildings,

shopping centers, and its fashion conscious young people.

(calm instrumental music)

Two worlds which sometimes meet where chadors

and black veils rub against brightly colored lingerie.

Tehran has another striking characteristic

for tourists like us.

Military and police are everywhere.

And they're not just there for show, as we soon discover.

Our first stop in the capital

is a famous promenade: the Tabiat Bridge.

(distant singing)

We come back after three minutes and already,

a uniformed officer stops us.

That's cleared that one up, it is clearly not okay

to film inside this police state.

For the rest of the day, we found a driver

who'll agree to our camera.

We tried our luck with about 10 different drivers,

but they all said no.

We were starting to get desperate when we came across

a 30-something Tehrani who breaks all the rules.

Let's call him Farad.

(pop music)

It seems harmless, but the modern music

he's listening to is forbidden.

(pop music)

Farad doesn't just listen to music.

In his car, anything goes.

Even breaking another law, an even riskier one for him.

A study carried out by the Iranian police between April

and May 2012 showed that a quarter

of the drivers stopped were drunk.

Farad feels free behind the wheel,

but his car hasn't always protected him.

(traditional music)

One million Iranians are regular drinkers, although the sale

of alcoholic beverages is officially forbidden

in the country, even in international hotel chains.

As a result of this prohibition, some Iranians

have thrown themselves into the secret underground business

of alcohol production, an activity

that can get you sent straight to prison.

Trying to convince one of these bootleggers

to talk to us proved difficult, and many of those

we contacted said no at the last minute.

Thanks to an intermediary, a couple involved

in this black market finally agreed to meet us.

In order not to endanger them, we double

our efforts to be careful.

Anyone in civilian clothing could be

an informant of the regime.

To get to the meeting, we therefore change means

of transport several times in order not to leave any tracks.

(man speaks in foreign language)

After 45 minutes making detours around town,

we finally reach our destination.

- [Male Speaker] We can open it in the kitchen.

- [Narrator] Amine and Kiana are bootleggers.

- [Male Speaker] Don't worry, open it.

- [Kiana] I don't want to.

- [Male Speaker] Open it slowly.

- [Narrator] They are 20-somethings living

in an apartment borrowed from their parents.

Both are unemployed, as are 27% of young Iranians.

That figure reaches even 40% among young women.

- [Jacques] Are there many people

who do this kind of action actually?

- In here, about making beers?

- [Jacques] Yes.

- It's not common, but some of my friends,

a few of my friends do this, same as me.

Everyone has their own recipes for making beer.

- [Narrator] For these bootleggers,

the procedure isn't very complicated.

The regime almost makes their task easy.

It manufactures non-alcoholic beer, a good base.

In fact, for Amine, it's the manufacturer, also known

as the state, which does the most difficult part.

- You know, it's very hard to make this kind

of non-alcoholic beer, because the normal process

of making beer has alcohol.

But they have to do something

to take alcohol out of the beer.

- [Narrator] Amine only has to re-alcoholize it all,

and he has the recipe at his fingertips.

He starts by pouring sugar into the container.

- [Kiana] It's easy.

- [Jacques] It's easy?

- Yeah, it's really easy, you'll see it.

- [Jacques] And then how much degrees of alcohol

you get at the end?

- About eight, nine, sometimes more.

- [Narrator] The beer has been mixed with the sugar,

but it isn't ready yet.

Amine adds a bit of brewer's yeast to make it ferment.

- [Amine] It's almost done.

- If you want to buy can of beers,

it's much more expensive than this much.

- [Jacques] How much is that, for example?

- 25 or even 30,000 tomans for each can.

- [Jacques] That means $10 for each can?

- [Kiana] Yes.

- [Amine] For each can, yes.

- [Jacques] You don't sell the beer after it's--

- Erm, I sell to my close friends or friends of my friends.

(ominous music)

Usually, in cold weather, I put it near the fireplace.

For example, here.

- [Narrator] In one week, Amine and Kiana

will have 10 liters of beer, alcohol content 10%.

They therefore make about 100 liters per month,

the equivalent of several hundred euros a week,

which enables them to live decently.

(percussion music)

In Iran, the average salary is only 400 euros a month.

A shoe shiner makes less than one euro a day,

a teacher 10 euros a month at best.

80% of Iranians live below the poverty line, but the regime,

in contrast, has been spending countless sums of money

over 30 years in order to build an ostentatious mausoleum

in honor of their most important spiritual leader,

Ayatollah Khomeini.

(water splashing)

We meet on site, the mausoleum is still being built.

It covers 20 square kilometers,

the equivalent of four Parisian districts.

With its golden roofs, this building will cost $2 billion.

A colossal sum in a country where seven million households

don't have the means to pay the rent.

The religious dictatorship seems at complete odds

with its people, and that is what the guide,

who doesn't know we're recording him, confirms.

- [Jacques] How many people go on Friday

to the mosque to pray?

All the Iranian people?

- [Guide] No, not all.

It's very little.

Only three, four or 5% of the population.

- [Jacques] Not so much.

- [Guide] No.

- [Jacques] And if you don't go, there's no problems?

- [Guide] No.

- [Jacques] They don't care?

- [Guide] For some kinds of employees, that they work

for government and they work in the military, in the army,

they have to go.

- [Narrator] Nowadays, in order to generate revenue,

Iran is developing its tourist sector.

The country has gone from one million visitors

in 2003 to five million in 2016.

But in spite of such colossal investment,

the mausoleum does not pull in the crowds.

(ominous music)

Inside, not one foreign tourist,

only some Iranians here to pray.

And the same rule as usual.

- [Jacques] It's possible to film?

- [Soldier] No, safety first.

- [Narrator] We carry on filming discretely

with a mobile phone anyway.

There's marble and frescoes everywhere.

Pilgrims and some mullahs come

and gather around Khomeini's tomb.

His remains are buried behind this gold and silver grate.

This unusual place of devotion seems

to attract only a few Iranians.

The majority of them find it hard

to accept such exorbitant expenditure

and this personality cult.

Even our guide has his reservations.

- [Guide] For example, I, myself, I hate this kind

of architecture, because it's related to religious...

(distant singing)

- [Narrator] It's in the name of this religion that

the Ayatollahs multiply their prohibitions.

Today in Iran, men don't have the right to wear shorts,

and women are not allowed to ride a bicycle,

an act considered too erotic by the moral police.

But when night falls, when police patrols

become more spaced out, some don't hesitate

to break the mullahs' laws.

(ominous music)

We are headed for a park on the outskirts

of town in a wealthy area, where

all these walkers are breaking the law.

(dogs barking)

Their dogs put them at risk of sanctions.

They are forbidden because they are considered unclean

by religious leaders, like pigs.

(dogs barking)

However, if you are young and fashionable,

having a dog in Tehran is very trendy,

but it's a fashion that remains hidden.

It's a Western fashion that only

the richest can permit themselves,

the fine costs a minimum of 500 euros.

And if the animal is caught travelling by car,

the vehicle can, quite simply, be confiscated.

It costs up to 10,000 euros to buy a dog.

The authorities regularly organize busts in order

to confiscate these four-legged friends,

to the great desperation of their owners.

(ominous music)

Whilst these young people don't rebel against everything

while secretly awaiting change, on the other side of Tehran,

we are going to meet a man who has decided

to express his anger with the regime loud and clear.

What he's eagerly doing is equated to political opposition.

For that, he risks a very long prison sentence,

and after a speedy trial, he could even be executed.

This man is called Bam Bam, his weapons

were bought legally from the shops.

They are basic paint bombs.

- [Jacques] Is it easy to find?

- [Bam Bam] Yeah, it's cool, but police

is everywhere, you cannot find everything you want.

- [Narrator] Several times a month,

he records his acts of resistance.

(ominous music)

This evening, he's going to the bridge that overlooks

one of the main arteries of Tehran.

And he writes the word hooligan.

In Iran, these words are associated

with political opposition, similar to times gone by

in the former USSR where it was used

to denote young people in opposition of the regime.

Graffiti artists like Bam Bam feature on the mullahs' radar.

Last year, Keywan Karimi was sentenced

to 223 lashes and a year's imprisonment.

His crime?

Making a documentary on the history

of Iran as told through graffiti.

(intense music)

But these heavy penalties don't put off

graffiti artists like Bam Bam.

(ominous music)

But does the power really belong to the people?

That's what the Iranian youth believed

after the 2009 presidential election.

Mir Hussein Moussavi, the reform candidate,

was predicted to win by all the opinion polls.

But election night amazed everyone.

In the end, the ultra-conservative president

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected.

He was accused of election fraud.

The people took to the streets in protest.

But the religious police, the Bassijis, the army,

and the police are perpetrators of a bloody repression.

At least 70 dead and more than 4,000 arrested.

One tragedy attracted the attention of the outside world:

Neda Agha-Soltan, a 26-year-old Iranian,

was killed by a soldier hiding on the roof of a house.

It was clearly murder.

In response to international outrage,

the government ordered a media blackout.

Only those images recorded by the citizens themselves

managed to get out of the country.

The BBC signal satellite over

the region was interfered with.

Despite their courage, the demonstrators were unsuccessful.

The election result was supported by the religious leaders,

Ahmadinejad remains in power.

Following these riots, censorship was tightened up,

especially on social networks.

And this carries on today.

We find this out when we buy a mobile phone microchip.

In fact, access to social networks

is officially prohibited and blocked.

Following the advice of this state employee, we head for

the stall opposite, which sells mobile phone accessories.

This man also recommends special cards,

which enable access to forbidden software, VPNs.

Once installed on the phone, the program simulates

an internet connection from a country other than Iran,

and therefore bypasses the censorship.

In less than five minutes, we have access

to all social networks.

Does the state purposely close its eyes to these sellers

in order to relax the pressure on the population

and thereby avoid a popular uprising?

Or are we in a schizophrenic country

where certain small infractions are overlooked?

Officially, for example, foreign channels are forbidden.

However, satellite dishes are blatantly

on view from almost every window.

(intense music)

These allow Iranians to watch something other than

the national channels that broadcast a steady stream

of prayers, preaching, and speeches glorifying the mullahs.

Because ever since Khomeini, the country

has become a leader in religious propaganda.

On Tehran's walls, the regime displays

the greatness of the Ayatollahs.

Looming from above are billboards showing a happy society.

Fulfilled and perfect.

A nation united by solidarity, edified by religion.

However, also on show is their sworn enmity

with the United States.

For the past 40 years, the two countries

have cut all diplomatic relations.

(ominous music)

The former American embassy has been turned

into the anti-arrogance museum.

In the garden, dozens of posters denounce

the country they call Great Satan.

Obama is disguised and shown as a terrorist.

Relations between the US and Iran

were turned upside down in 1979.

The former king, the Shah, then in exile in Mexico,

was hospitalized in New York for cancer treatment.

(chanting)

The Iranian authorities demanded

his extradition, without success.

Instructed by the Ayatollah Khomeini, students then attacked

the United States' embassy in Tehran,

taking some 50 people hostage.

They were not freed until 444 days later.

Ever since, inside the embassy, nothing has been changed.

The documents and machines are safe-guarded as trophies.

This is the case with the paper shredder used

to destroy secret papers while

the American soldiers fought off the students.

We discover the first computers and satellite receivers,

interception systems, passport photos presented by

the Iranian authorities as being used

to make fake documents.

The highlight is this glassed room,

sound proofed and with its own ventilation system.

For the past 40 years, the dictatorship

has been spreading anti-Americanism through propaganda,

and its most recent weapon of mass communication:

this advert shown on national television in 2016.

(intense choir music)

(woman screaming)

For 350,000 euros, the regime made use

of the most beautiful special effects.

The scenario is very simple.

The powerful American army attack the mullahs' country.

To fight back, the villagers use a simple Iranian flag.

(explosion)

Their love for their country is so strong

that they provoke a real tsunami.

It's the love of their country that brings them victory.

(water splashing)

(explosion)

(thunder)

These displays of hatred for the United States can be found

all around town, even inside the mosques on giant screens.

(distant singing)

Meanwhile, just a few meters away,

this country's schizophrenia manifests to its full extent.

(energetic music)

Many Iranians live a Western lifestyle,

brands such as Apple and Windows

are displayed in shop windows.

Fast food restaurants copy KFC and McDonald's.

In Tehran, there are the same temples

of consumerism as in the United States.

Once again, with American brands everywhere.

(distant music)

We are in a fashion trade fair for women only.

Here, fashion designers use products from

the United States in an unusual way for their creations.

And in fact, these clothes have been subjected

to the mullahs' criteria.

(energetic music)

The dress code imposed by the regime forces women

to cover every part of their body.

The coat covers their shape, but is their only outward sign

of elegance, with the scarf.

Leila and Nahid are 22 and 27 years old.

Like the majority of young women their age,

it's the conundrum of how to feel attractive in public.

We are headed for a shopping center in the north of Tehran.

In this shop, Leila and Nahid have the choice

between this classic coat, which is a bit dull.

(distant music)

Or a more lively version, such as this one

with an American influence.

Minnie is a Disney character.

In the end, it's a coat with

a church window motif that catches Leila's eye.

The sellers intervene in order to start a conversation,

to try their luck, and it works.

Except in Iran, people don't give out their phone numbers.

Since young unmarried people aren't allowed to go

for a walk together or to meet in a cafe,

they usually use social networks to date.

(energetic music)

Two levels up, we meet Roxanne.

This young woman, a student from the upper classes,

is addicted to shopping, especially big Western brands

such as this famous American lingerie retailer.

(energetic music)

Once again, we are struck by the Iranian paradox.

On the one hand, a strict, religious society, on the other,

the selling of products that are forbidden

to be worn in the street, like these dresses.

Roxanne is 30 years old, and this evening

is her pre-engagement party at her parents' home,

so she's looking for the perfect dress.

In the end, it's not in the shopping center, but in

the luxury boutiques of Zafaraniyeh, the glamorous part

of Tehran, that she finds what she's looking for.

But here, there are no overcoats, only lighter garments.

Even here, we're never far from religious police

and their rules.

But no one follows them.

(energetic music)

Several hours later, we meet Roxanne again,

this time at her house.

In this upper-class family, they practically live

as Westerners, far from the restrictions

imposed by the mullahs.

Here, the women wear short skirts, the men ties.

As in many Iranian families, in private,

they don't observe the religious rules.

Roxanne is expecting her future in-laws.

Her mother is feeling emotional

about her daughter getting married.

Her fiancee and his family arrive at last.

(applause)

To immortalize the moment, Nouri,

the brother-in-law, acts as photographer.

Immediately afterwards, the talks begin.

Mana, the fiancee's aunt, stays out of it.

That's about 66,000 euros.

But it's not the woman who pays the dowry, it's the man.

In case of divorce, he must give

this sum of money to his wife.

In Iran, this practice is called Mehrieh.

(applause)

Additionally, the husband's family commit

to providing a house.

(laughter)

(applause)

To celebrate the engagement, the family offer whisky

and wine to the guests.

Contraband, of course.

(distant music)

Every year, 60 to 80 million liters of alcohol

are smuggled into the country for a total cost

of about 580 million euros.

(traditional music)

The following day, in Tehran,

we discover another hidden world.

A few feet away from the grand bazaar,

where pistachio sellers jostle

with religious banner sellers, we've got permission to go

in a place that is never normally on show.

Here, there is no shop window, no shop front.

(knocking)

You would think we were arriving

at a private club, with its code.

But it isn't at all.

Welcome to an Iranian beauty salon.

Clients can choose from dozens of styles

and spend countless sums of money

to make themselves beautiful.

It's one of the few places where women appear unveiled.

This place is strictly off limits for men.

Sophie, our journalist, goes in alone.

Other women also come here for makeup.

Iran is the world's seventh biggest consumer of cosmetics,

principally thanks to mascara and lipstick sales.

(calm music)

But that will be in a closed environment again,

in an apartment.

Since in Tehran, in order to feel really free,

you have to get out of the city center.

Every weekend, just an hour's drive away, hundreds of people

go to this forest to let off steam.

This is where Leila, the young woman who bought

the brightly patterned coat, has agreed to meet us.

With her university friends, she stays out of view,

in search of a place to be free.

Because even in the thick of the woods,

the regime is never far away.

(pop music)

Two men dressed as civilians are members

of the religious police.

They have authority over everyone, even the army.

Leila and her friends normally meet here.

None of them are married, they don't have

the right to touch, talk or flirt.

The girls usually remain vigilant and don't dare

take their veils off, even when they are out of sight.

In this forest, the young people laugh about

all the laws they've broken there since this afternoon.

(pop music)

Dancing is also not allowed.

Neither is hugging or smoking if you are a woman.

Azad risks receiving lashes for smoking a joint.

While these young people are breaking the law,

that's not the case for all of them.

Not far from here, another group of youngsters

go about their business while staying within the law.

While the middle classes generally choose

this forest near Tehran, wealthier young Iranians

have their own refuge a hundred kilometers further north.

Dizin.

(energetic music)

Two hours' drive from Tehran, we discover another world

where most taboos are overlooked.

Welcome to one of the country's 13 ski stations.

At first glance, everything is in order.

The ski lift employees are all veiled.

Up on the ski slopes, members of the moral police

call to order anyone who lets her hair show.

But further into the ski resort,

the religious police seem to turn a blind eye.

(energetic music)

Welcome to the paradise of the young Iranian jet set.

(cheering)

Dizin is basically a little corner of

the West reserved only for the elite.

The music that is normally forbidden is played full blast.

Skiers let their veils fall off.

In the plastic bottles and flasks, there is alcohol.

These wealthy young women seem to live in another world,

far from the reality of their own country.

- For women, this is freedom.

I can not cover my face, you can see.

- [Jacques] You don't have to cover your hair?

- There is no need, just here you should cover,

not all, you can see.

- [Narrator] It is in this bubble above Tehran that,

for the first time on our trip,

Iranians dare to criticize the regime openly.

- We have a problem on government.

All of the people, many of the people in Iran,

Iranian people don't like the government and the rules

of government, but we can't do anything.

(ominous music)

- [Narrator] This repressive regime has long been shunned

by the international community.

This country, which defied the West

by attempting to gain nuclear weapons, finally conceded.

A year ago, Iran pledged to reduce its uranium stockpile.

In exchange, economic sanctions were partially suspended,

France began trading with Iran again.

In 2016, president Hassan Rohani toured European capitals

to sign a contract presenting the new face of Iran.

The question of human rights has barely been raised.

In Iran, where a thousand executions are carried out

every year, there are 160 minors currently on death row.