Director and writer Asghar Farhadi has followed up his wonderful film, A SEPARATION, with another outstanding and engaging drama.
Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa) has flown to France to finalise his divorce from Marie (Bérénice Bejo, who played Peppy Miller in THE ARTIST). THE PAST explores the complex relationships between Ahmad and Marie, and Marie’s children from a previous marriage, and Marie’s new boyfriend and his son.
There are wonderful performances from the strong cast. Marie’s sixteen year old daughter Lucie, played by Pauline Burlet, displays the indulgent petulance of an uncontrolled teenager, the joy and warmth of a young woman reconnecting with her long absent step-father figure (Ahmad), and the angst of a deeply troubled individual.
Bérénice Bejo captures brilliantly the complex character of Marie. She shows fondness for her ex husband Ahmad but simultaneously some old conflicts re-emerge. Similarly she has the same complex relationship with her daughter Marie, her boyfriend Samir (Tahar Rahim) and his young son Fouad (Elyes Aguis).
Elyes’ performance is unbelievably good as the primary school aged boy dealing with his father’s new girlfriend, his mother in hospital in a coma and the kindly man from Iran who seems to have brought conflict and mayhem with him. Ali Mosaffa, as the kindly Ahmad, plays his part with great dignity.
Asghar Farhadi’s story is worthy of these wonderful performances. No character’s position is all black or all white. At times they behave admirably and on other occasions with reckless disregard for the other characters. Layered upon this nuanced interplay is a narrative with unexpected twists and turns, situations that are easily misinterpreted as a result of incorrect assumptions, and then are instances of characters trying to get away with slight, self-serving deceptions.
Farhadi examines the role of the past in our present. Can we ignore the past and get on with our lives? Is it better to deal with the past, to apologise and seek forgiveness? This delightful film gives us lots of material to ponder. I thoroughly recommend THE PAST.
THE PAST was recently shown at this year’s Sydney Film Festival.