A bestseller when it was first published in 2003, Azar Nafisi’s Reading Lolita in Tehran blends a memoir of her life in post-revolutionary Iran with literary analyses of the forbidden Western books she shared with seven female students in a secret reading group. Its emphasis on the importance of literature and the interior, imaginative life does not make for an easy transition to the screen, and fans of Nafisi’s book may be disappointed in this workmanlike, literal-minded adaptation by Israeli director Eran Riklis (Lemon Tree) and television veteran and screenwriter Marjorie David.

The adaptation is organized into four parts, each named after a classic work of English-language literature. After a prologue that follows Azar (Golshifteh Farahani) returning with her husband to Tehran in the wake of the 1979 Islamic revolution that overthrew the Shah, part one, “The Great Gatsby,” finds the young professor in 1980 arriving at the University of Tehran. She is greeted by an eager male student, Bahri (Reza Diako), who has prepared a list of morally appropriate reading that she might want to consider for her course. “I’ll have to think about it,” Azar responds airily.

It’s early days in the revolution, but a classroom discussion of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece reveals the growing tension between more liberal, Westernized students (mostly women) and the more reactionary fundamentalists (mostly men). One of them taunts the outraged women, declaring that wearing the hijab will soon be mandatory for all Iranian females.

It’s not long before the new regime reveals its true colors. Azar is horrified when, following a violent clash between student protesters and the morality police, one of her 17-year-old female students is arrested, imprisoned, and executed. A confrontation with a male security guard over Azar’s uncovered head results in her being called to the university president’s office. In a chilling scene, she must be physically searched by a female guard before she can meet the president. After the guard criticizes her skimpy underwear, a humiliated Azar angrily retorts, “Why is it your business?” and storms out.

The film fast-forwards 15 years to 1995 in the second section, “Lolita.” Azar, who has quit her university teaching, is hosting seven of her best female students in a quiet act of resistance: Every Thursday morning, after taking off their headscarves and hijabs, the group will discuss banned literary works, including Vladimir Nabokov’s controversial novel, accompanied by mouthwatering spreads of fruit, nuts, pastries, and glasses of tea (lusciously shot by cinematographer Hélène Louvart).

Unfortunately, the literary discussions, which form the core of Nafisi’s memoir, are limited to a couple of scenes. Granted, people talking about books is not the most cinematic of situations, but great movies (My Dinner with Andre, 12 Angry Men, and the films of Éric Rohmer) have been made out of ordinary human conversations. In addition, these scenes are awkwardly interspersed with flashbacks of brutal interrogations and domestic abuse endured by some of the group’s members. While these backstories flesh out the lives of Sanaz (Zar Amir Ebrahimi), Azin (Lara Wolf), and Nassrin (Mina Kavani), the other characters are less developed.

In depicting life under an increasingly repressive government, Riklis’s episodic film is surprisingly slow-paced and tension-free. Two scenes set in a cafe invaded by the religious police looking for violators go nowhere, and Azar’s sharing of contraband books with her old university friend, the Magician (Shahbaz Noshir), is almost too open and casual. Despite the stress and anxiety of living for 17 years under the mullahs, Azar, who is about 31 when she returns to Iran in 1979, remains mysteriously youthful.

Still, the director has gathered a fine cast of talented, exiled Iranian actors who are a pleasure to watch. Kudos also to him and Italian art director Tonino Zera for working closely with Iranian experts to meticulously and authentically re-create the bustling city of Tehran in a Rome studio.