Asghar Farhadi 2013 France/Iran
Starring: Bérénice Bejo, Ali Mosaffa, Tahar Rahim, Pauline Burlet, Elyes Aguis, Jeanne Jestin, Sabrina Ouazani, Babak Karimi
Marital disharmony is nothing new for Asghar Farhadi although it's arguably never been the main topic of any of his films, instead lingering in the background and often coming forward as a result of other parts of the narrative. Such undercurrents, or more accurately moments between moments, have fast become one of Farhadi's specialities and The Past is no different, taking as its subjects Marie and her estranged Iranian husband, the affable Ahmad, who she's called to France out of the blue to sign their divorce papers. As ever though the marriage, or lack thereof, isn't the main thrust of the story, instead it's something that, along with other complications, is brought to the fore gradually as if via a drip-feed. At their first meeting (shot silently through glass, highlighting the current physical and emotional distance between them and their contrasting ability to understand each other with little more than a glance) we barely know anything about the pair other than that there's both tension and affection between them but soon we learn more. Marie has two children who know and are fond of Ahmad but he's not their father. There's also another child in the household, the son of Marie's new partner Samir who has a backstory of his own, but to reveal much more would be to play spoiler. Playing Samir is the brilliant Tahar Rahim, an actor who's carved a niche for himself in roles balancing violence and shyness. He's an odd presence, undeniably masculine and at times convincingly fearsome but also carrying a wonderful subtlety. The second half of the film is shot from his point of view with the first half from Ahmad's and yet Marie never seems left out and is undeniably the main character, caught between the two men and for much of the time the most menacing of the three. It's an incredible dramatic performance from Bérénice Bejo (almost unrecognisable from her role as Peppy Miller in 2011's silent pastiche The Artist) but she's almost out-acted by the two young children, particularly Elyes Aguis who as Samir's son Fouad displays an almost inconceivable understanding of delicacy, indeed you can only imagine how good he'll be with more experience under his belt. As a whole the scenario reminds me of another great film of last year, August: Osage County, which likewise is dazzlingly acted and windingly complex and observes an extended family over a period of days, except The Past is much better, its traumatic reveals having been woven into the plot organically rather than built on top of one another until they teeter on the very outskirts of plausibility. The entire film has a feeling of an unfolding puzzle of concealed second-guessing and etiquette with each piece authentic and convincing not to mention gracefully directed (a huge feat when one considers that Farhadi doesn't speak French and had to guide his actors through a translator). For the first few minutes it risks feeling overstylised as if Farhadi is popping wheelies with his much-increased budget but thankfully it soon settles down to a more familiar, theatrical pace, stopping far short of the histrionics of Osage or Park Chan-wook's similarly produced and gleeful if vainglorious Stoker. Farhadi's past films have been released in reverse order (his first to reach UK cinemas, A Separation, was actually his fifth feature with his forth, About Elly, and his third, Fireworks Wednesday, following in that order) and there are apparently two more earlier works still to come but I genuinely don't think they will better this. I hope they will but I highly doubt it. A masterpiece.
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