Gabbeh's father refuses to allow her to marry a mysterious stranger on horseback who follows her nomadic family wherever they travel whom she falls in love with, until a series of stipulations have first been met.
Makhmalbaf attempts to follow the carpet idea by making his film dreamily romantic and non-realistic. Events seem to leap around in time and space, much like a dream.
There is hardly a composition in the film that couldn't be extracted and framed.
New York Times
January 01, 2000
Like its subject, Gabbeh is woven with art.
E! Online
January 01, 2000
Poetic and evocative, but too short at 75 minutes to unroll enough of a story, this gentle film nonetheless revels in the colors and everyday wonders of life.
