The Past (2013)

Original Title

Le passé

Genre

Drama

Director

Asghar Farhadi

Country

France | Italy | Iran

Cast

Bérénice Bejo, Tahar Rahim, Ali Mosaffa, Pauline Burlet, Alyes Agius, Jeanne Jestin, Sabrina Ouazani, Babak Karimi, Valeria Cavalli, Eleonora Marino

Plot

Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa), an Iranian man, reunites with his estranged wife (Bérénice Bejo) in Paris to finalize their divorce, which is soon complicated by a shocking revelation by her daughter (Pauline Burlet) from a previous marriage.

Opinion

A little bit less tense than A Separation, The Past is a very well-made and interesting drama, wherewith Asghar Farhadi wants to remind us that to look forward in our lives is essential to take note of the past.

Masterfully directed and superbly written by Farhadi, the film is believable and very close to reality, and the handheld camera engages more the viewers. 

The Iranian capital has been replaced by a peripheral Paris, as much as peripherals are the lives of each character to each others. There is a deep analysis of the characters and no one is left behind.

All actors are greatly chosen, as the performances are outstanding and realistic. Bérénice Bejo doesn't play Marie, she is Marie. Ali Mosaffa is wonderful and brilliantly portraits Ahmad. Tahar Rahim wonderfully delivers. 

Quotes

Marie Brisson: I'll tell them to apologize.

Samir: In this way, you will teach them that always there is an escape way named apology!

Rating

9.0/10

A Separation (2011)

Original Title

جدایی نادر از سیمین Jodaí-e Nadér az Simín

Genre

Drama

Director

Asghar Farhadi

Country

Iran

Cast

Leila Hatami, Peyman Moaadi, Shahab Hosseini, Sareh Bayat, Sarina Farhadi, Ali-Asghar Shahbazi, Shirin Yazdanbakhsh, Kimia Hosseini, Merila Zarei

Plot

Simin (Leila Hatami) wants to leave Iran with her husband Nader (Peyman Moaadi) and daughter Termeh (Sarina Farhadi). Simin sues for divorce when Nader refuses to leave behind his Alzheimer-suffering father. Her request having failed, Simin returns to her parents’ home, but Termeh decides to stay with Nader. When Nader hires a young woman (Sareh Bayat) to assist with his father in his wife’s absence, he hopes that his life will return to a normal state. However, when he discovers that the new maid has been lying to him, he realizes that there is more on the line than just him marriage.

Opinion

A Separation is a compelling and excellent drama – foreign language film or nor - and a flawless domestic portrait – although the prohibition for women to appear bareheaded distorts a little the reality. Set in contemporary Iran, the film starts and ends focusing on the separation of Simin and Nader, and how this affects their daughter. However, the main themes are the strength of a doctrine and the difficulty of a woman to be part of a male-dominated society.

Opposed to the characters of the two women, both having inner conflicts, there are the men’s, which cling to preconceptions that prevent them from perceiving reality with clarity.

Asghar Farhadi did a brilliant job both on the writing and the directional side. The unwritten ending offers each viewer the chance to decide. However, I am not sure it works fine with this film.

The cast is just marvelous. When the tension is high, they are more than convincing.

If you haven't seen any Iranian film, I suggest you to made of this film your first time.

Quotes

Termeh: If you don’t say a lie, why you should be careful?

Nader: What is wrong is wrong… No matter who says or where it’s written.

Rating

9.0/10

Copie Conforme (Certified Copy)

My third Cannes film and absolutely the best I have seen up-to-date (haven’t I say this before?) which only makes me anxious to continue my voyage into 2010 Cannes films. Have I before talk about perfection? Yes with an almost always before, but this time there is no almost before as this is perfect, my perfect movie. Chapeau Master Kiarostami you delighted all my senses with your magnificent oeuvre d’art. I praise you and dearly thank you for that. You confirmed me my very own personal reasons why I love cinema. Thank You.

After trying to get rid in the above paragraph of all the emotions I felt while watching this film I’m going to try to be objective and share some thoughts with you all about this extraordinary film that I know will make you feel strong emotions thanks to a very ambiguous story that will lead to numerous interpretations and I honestly wish I could share some of my own interpretations with you all but if I do definitively will spoil the movie for you. This is a movie that you have to watch without knowing much about the story not only to be surprised but to be able to elucidate your own interpretation. Still I can tell what I knew before watching about the story: film tells about an English writer that goes to Tuscany to promote his latest book and meets a French woman who takes him to the village of Lucignano. That’s it and is enough.

Indeed I believe that the story –no matter which interpretation I found- is very common but what makes it most interesting and absolutely out-of-the-ordinary is the way it’s told visually and with narrative. Visually is all about original and copy, when the copy is better than the original, like for example when you see yourself in a mirror and sometimes realize that your reflection is much better than the way you see yourself. Visually there are many reflections in this film, but there are more in the narrative. Amazing!!!

The film is layered, brainy and very complex but to some eyes could be seen as a very linear story in a ‘plain’ film that tells not much about their characters and with too much talking that says nothing interesting about anything in particular as conversations divert into the banal and the unfamiliar to many. But please don’t be fooled and as I like to say: look beyond the end of your nose, which sounds really funny in English, but means to see beyond your limits. Believe me the movie is worth the effort.

Performances are extraordinary in another pas-de-deux (lately been seeing many) between marvelous Juliette Binoche and William Shimell. Is hard to believe that is Shimell’s first acting role as he creates a cold character so-well that at moments will absolutely annoy you up to the point of strongly dislike him. Binoche is Magnifique and all honors she has and will collect for this role are not only well-deserved but will never truly recompense her extraordinary performance. Outstanding cast!!!

But this film, the second he does outside Iran, is Abbas Kiarostami’s opus magnificent that continues masterly exploring human relationships in visually compelling films. Is his film a work of art? Yes it is for me, but is not art cinema. The film looks and feels like great European cinema and paraphrasing something I read this is what I feel about this film: you don’t know if this is Kiarostami doing European cinema or is European cinema by Kiarostami.

Strongly recommend the film to those that love ‘perfect’ cinema, European cinema and the work of Abbas Kiarostami. But also I do recommend it to those that are in the mood to make an effort and go beyond their usual limits while watching a movie.

I LOVE the movie beyond Juliete Binoche’s performance and those who know me will easily understand that the impossible happened as Binoche is one of very few favorite actresses that sometimes (almost always) don’t allow me to watch films beyond her performance. That’s how much I liked this movie.

BIG, but BIG ENJOY!!!

Watch trailer @MOC

رباره الی Darbareye Elly (About Elly)

Took me a very long wait but finally I was able to watch this magnificent film by Asghar Farhadi who captivated me with Chaharshanbe-soori (Fireworks Wednesday) and continue captivating me with another interesting exploration on human relations in a film with sophisticated storytelling depicting a story that according to what I read, could mean different things to different people. Fascinating.

The film tells about three families traveling to the Caspian sea for a week-end holiday. They arrive only to find that the house they rented was not available and end-up staying in a tore down house near the sea. While they are setting in all is happiness, fun, we are introduced to the characters and the basic plot of the story, but everything -and I mean everything- changes when one little boy is missing and find him floating far away in the sea. What actually changes is the group dynamics plus characters behavior and you have no idea how well-develop the characters are, how the story will evolve and involve you.

To me the story is about women and their perhaps so common behavior all over the world, so it's not a story that only belongs to Iranian women; but to others the story is about lies and their consequences. Whatever you see in the story is up to you, but definitively is not only a very interesting story but also an universal story.

Great performances by excellent actors in this high value production that's set mainly at the beach house, so you have a movie that's all about characters and narrative, while tech specs are good the main thing is that they do not disturb the human drama that's being told so superbly.

As we know the film was Iran's submission to 2010 Oscar and while traveling the fest circuit was honored with multiple awards including a Silver Bear at the 2009 Berlinale for Best Director and the film in competition for the Golden Bear; and the Best Narrative Feature at 2009 Tribeca. Because I believe it's a great summary for the film, here is a reproduction of the Jury statement at the 2009 Viennale where won the Der Standard Readers' Jury Prize.

“Darbareye Elly is an artistically convincing, multi-layered drama about morals, responsibility to oneself and others, as well as the relationship to truth revealed by the dynamics of interpersonal relations. At the same time, it provides a rare view of Iran’s middle-class.”

So it's not just me that believes that Asghar Farhadi is the most outstanding Iranian filmmaker that allows us westerners to see a different side of Iranian culture in films with very compelling (universal) stories. If you haven't seen the film I strongly suggest you don't miss it as I highly recommend it.

Enjoy!!!

Watch trailer @Movie On Companion