CANNES - The Hollywood Reporter

REVIEWS
Marie (Bejo) and
her boyfriend, Samir
(Rahim), feel the
tension once her
estranged husband
resurfaces.
The Past
Berenice Bejo shines in a superbly lensed in-competition
drama from A Separation’s Asghar Farhadi
BY DEBORAH YOUNG
Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi
pursues his exploration of
guilt, choice and responsibility
in a superbly written, directed
and acted drama that commands
attention every step of the way.
As in his previous work, the
story is set within a family, and
children once again are the main
victims. Here, however, Farhadi’s
nearly flawless screenplay forgoes
the explosive shocks that electrified
Fireworks Wednesday and
About Elly and drove A Separation
on to win the best foreign
language Oscar. The Past plays
like a low-key adagio in the hands
of a masterful pianist, who knows
how to give every note its just
nuance and how every single
phrase affects all the rest. A
surprisingly dynamic, unsentimental
central performance from
The Artist’s charming Berenice
Bejo should help audiences
relate to the tale, which co-stars
Ali Mosaffa and Tahar Rahim in
fine performances.
Though set in France, the story
unfolds entirely in interiors, specifically
a rambling house on the
outskirts of Paris that is as full of
doors and windows as the Tehran
apartment of A Separation. At
the request of his wife, Marie
(Beho), from whom he’s been
separated for four years, Ahmad
(Mosaffa) returns from Iran to
finalize their divorce. He doesn’t
know what a hornet’s nest he’s
walking into. Viewers are kept
on their toes trying to figure out
the tangle of adult relationships,
which have left a trail of insecure
children in their wake.
Throughout most of the film,
Ahmad is the calm, balanced
observer who sees everything
that’s going on with Marie, her
new boyfriend, Samir (Tahar
Rahim), and the three kids they
live with. But even the good
psychologist Ahmad holds some
surprises in reserve. The children
themselves are not innocent, not
“free from stain” one might say,
to touch on a major plot point.
But from Farhadi’s POV they are
always the losers in their parents’
battles.
When Marie picks Ahmad up
at the airport, their awkward distance
instantly is defined by them
talking through a thick wall of
glass. The fact that she’s driving a
borrowed car tips Ahmad off that
there’s another man in her life,
a fact soon confirmed by little
Lea (Jeanne Jestin) and Fouad
(Elyes Aguis). Instead of booking
him into a hotel, Marie insists
he stay in their house, quite an
awkward thing with the handsome,
morose Samir around. The
two men do their best to shuffle
civilly through their first meeting
at breakfast. The tension in the
household, however, gradually
rises as ugly truths will out.
Samir runs a dry cleaner not
far from the pharmacy where
Marie works. Fouad is his son
by Celine, his French wife who
has been in a coma for eight
months. Fouad likes living at
Marie’s house with his playmate
Lea, despite the fact that Marie
is nervous and fiery-tempered,
going overboard with the kids
when they misbehave. Ahmad,
who turns out not to be anybody’s
father, meanwhile has a wonderfully
persuasive way with them, a
talent that will draw him deeply
into a hidden family drama worthy
of Michael Haneke.
He’s particularly close to
the 16-year-old Lucie (Pauline
Burlet), who has been acting very
strangely lately, staying away
from the house and brimming
over with hostility for her already
edgy mom. Marie charges him
with finding out what’s wrong
with the girl. Reluctantly, but
with the skill of a TV detective,
Ahmad investigates. There are
a few red herrings, like Marie’s
sprained wrist, which coupled
with her violent temper strongly
suggests child beating. Worse
than physical violence, however,
is the poisonous climate of adult
secrets of which the teenage
Lucie seems to be a part: Why
is Samir’s wife in the hospital in
a seemingly irreversible coma,
for instance, and what is the role
played by each of the characters
in her tragedy?
The most fascinating thing
about the script is the way it
gradually unpeels motivation
without taking sides; in fact,
neither Bejo’s unbridled mother
and lover, Mosaffa’s distanced
outsider who has abandoned the
family, nor Rahim’s morose adulterer
act outside normal social
mores. At the same time, the
drama — which in other respects
could have been performed as a
play — is brilliantly heightened by
the camerawork of D.P. Mahmoud
Kalari, lending an intimate
intensity and symbolic punch to
virtually every scene.
In Competition
Cast Berenice Bejo, Tahar Rahim,
Ali Mosaffa, Pauline Burlet
Director-screenwriter
Asghar Farhadi
130 minutes
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 56