This is not a love story.

The late Irrfan Khan was one of India's most talented and respected actors, with a knack for playing soulful, deeply complex characters. The Song of Scorpions (2017) is not actually Khan's last film, but it feels like it; the 2017 release was at a film festival in Switzerland, but the movie only appeared in Indian theaters in April of 2023.  It's hard to watch the movie without being reminded of his death, and that's not really fair, because while Khan is genuinely great here, it's not really his movie.

This is the story of Nooran (Golshifteh Farahani), a young woman living in a remote corner of Rajahstan.  Nooran is studying with her grandmother Zubaida (Waheeda Rehman) to become a scorpion singer, able to cure a deadly scorpion sting using the sound of her voice and some herbs.  Nooran is something of an outsider in her village, but she loves her grandmother.  She's happy.

Nooran is beautiful and a gifted singer, and so she's attracted the attention of Aadam (Irrfan Khan), a traveling camel driver.  Aadam feels a pure and idealized love for Nooran, and she is aware, but she doesn't have space for a husband in her small and happy world.  Aadam's partner Munna (Shashank Arora) does not feel a pure and idealized love; he lusts after her, but then he lusts after nearly every woman hew meets, so he's content to spend his time with a character listed in the credits as "Lady of the Night" (Tillotama Shome).

And then everything changes.  A boy arrives to seek Nooran's help to save a man stung by a scorpion.  he leads her to a secluded and dark place, where an unknown man rapes her.  The women of the village find her and bring her home, but Zubaida is gone, vanished without a trace.  Nooran shuts herself in her house, but some of the men of the village keep prowling around outside, having decided that she's a fallen woman now and therefore fair game.  Some of the women decide that it would be better for everyone if Nooran left, so they ask her to go to the city, but she does not want to leave.

And then Aadam returns, and he's kind, solicitous, and still wants to marry Nooran.  he offers her a fresh start, and promises to find her grandmother, so Nooran finally agrees to the match.  It's not quite what either of them expected.  Aadam's family, and especially his young daughter Ayeesha (Sara Arjun) keep Nooran at arm's length, and she's simply not the person she was before, and not the person he was expecting.  She has literally lost her song, and describes the experience as having been poisoned.

Things start to get better; at the very least Nooran and Ayeesha start to bond, and Nooran even manages to sing for the girl.  Nooran starts to feel like she's finding herself again.  And then unexpected truths are revealed and everything goes to hell, with Nooran forming a revenge plan which is clever, unexpected, and slightly incoherent.  (The ending makes thematic sense, and I get why things happened the way they did, but I'm not entirely clear on how things happened the way they did.)

One of the marks of a great actor is knowing how and when to give focus rather than just take it, and Irrfan Khan was a great actor.  His Aadam is compelling; he's solemn, poetic, and captivated by the Nooran in his head, but this is definitely Nooran's movie.  Farahani is certainly captivating, mixing moments of humor and genuine joy with the revenge tragedy.  Whatever happens, Nooran is defiantly herself, and she shines all the brighter in the bleak storyline.

The plot is downright Shakespearean, but the cinematography is sumptuous.  I was reminded of the cosmic horror film Tumbbad; storyline, setting, and even genre are wildly different, but they are both movies that find a haunting beauty in a bleak setting.