Review for The Past

Ahmad is returning to Paris from Tehran. He is there to finalise the divorce from his wife Marie. While he is there he must diffuse the situation between Marie and her daughter Lucie. This also involves Marie's new partner, Samir who has a wife in a coma. So the story becomes a little complicated with Ahmad trying his best not to upturn the boat in everyone's lives. One friend gives him the advice 'Cut the ties. Cut Cut!' and he thinks that maybe the best. But for who?

The Past is a wonderful film by Oscar Winner Asghar Farhadi, who brought up the wonderful A Separation. When you watch this film, you forget that Farhadi is Iranian, as this is such a typical French film in the style of someone like Jean-Pierre Jeunet. When you hear how he Directed the film through an interpreter you would expect a clash of styles and an utter mess (Much like Jeunet's Alien Resurrection), but it's not. This film is wonderful from start to end.

Acting by everyone is perfect and the film is held together by Berenice Bejo as Marie, who went on the win the Best Actress Award at Cannes and I am so surprised that the Academy did not recognise her for this role. Ali Mosaffa is also wonderful as Ahmad, as is Tahar Rahim as Samir. Both do wonderful performances and again when you delve deeper I am astounded that Mosaffa learnt French in two months for this film and again it is surprising that he was not awarded in some way. The final piece of the puzzle is Pauline Burlet as Lucie who looks so much like Bejo that at times I lost track of who was on the screen. All of these performances were wonderful with even the children able to hold their own in this wonderful film.

Technically the film is faultless, the score is subtle, but works, the shots throughout really get you into the lives of these characters and it does not rely on flashes of nonsense to make you sit up. This is not a film with quick cuts, speeding up film or any of the other post-modern nonsense that a lot of foreign directors use to make their films feel special. This film doesn't need it, because it is special.

Now, my only issue with the film is the very complicated plot. The reason I say this is because if you miss one scene or one line you will be lost and I will admit that I had to watch the last thirty minutes twice to understand what was going on. When I did finally understand what was going it felt a little too complicated for my liking. However, as a whole the dialogue between everyone is great and the outbursts of melodrama were pitched perfectly.

Apart from the usual Trailer, the Extras include a Making Of Documentary that really shows the problems that Director Asghar Farhadi had making this film, speaking no French. It does show how he directs and how he sets up a shot which is interesting to all budding filmmakers. Interviews are with stars Berenice Bejo, Tahar Rahim and Ali Mosaffa, who all go into how they came to the film and what making the film was like. These are all fine, though I do wish there was a Play All function. The final interview is with Mahmoud Kalari, who I had to find on IMDB was the Cinematographer. Though I understand interviewing him, as his work is impeccable on this film, it would have been nice to have at least identified him in some way.

All of these Extras are fine in showing the hard work and dedication that went into the film and though a Commentary would have been great, these do serve their purpose well. I often think with Foreign films if they are unable (language wise) to do a commentary, that they would invite someone, a film critic or someone connected to the film to create a commentary instead, but it may lose the passion that some director commentaries have for their own work.

The Past is a wonderful film. Though I was a little confused by the plot, I can not argue with the execution of it. The acting from everyone, especially Bejo was wonderful, the camerawork and the score is fantastic and it is not a film relying on tricks to make the film quirky, like a lot of foreign films. This is a film that would work in any language and if you want to watch a classic example of family drama, then this would be a film that I wouldn't walk past.