9 of 10
Personal
Bias Alert: I saw and loved “A
Separation,” subtitles don’t faze me
I’ve
been waiting to see this film since Cannes last year. Writer/director Asghar Farhadi’s previous
film “A Separation” is a favorite of mine, so I knew I would see his new film
the first chance I got. I had to wait
ten months for it to arrive at the local art theater, and it was well worth the
wait.
Ahmad
(Ali Mosaffa) arrives in France to finalize the divorce between himself and his
ex, Marie (Bérénice Bejo). He finds
Marie’s life to be more complicated than he realized; she is about to marry a
man named Samir (Tahar Rahim), and the pair’s children aren’t happy about the
merging of the two families. Samir’s son
has some behavior issues and openly dislikes Marie. Marie’s oldest daughter Lucie (Pauline
Burlet) is acting out in what is initially thought to be teenage angst, but the
reasons prove to be much more substantial.
The
setup sounds melodramatic, but the plot unravels slowly and includes many things
I can’t give away here. If you are
familiar with “A Separation,” then you know that Farhadi is interested in
telling stories that take some unexpected twists. These things give the film some momentum, but
Farhadi’s much more concerned with unpacking the situation than figuring it all
out. The balance between plot momentum
and character isn’t as well done here as it was in “A Separation,” and the
movie feels a bit longer than it needed to be.
A delightful aspect of the film is how the focus shifts from one
character to the next, allowing each to shed more and more light on the
situation. I don’t think we ever get a
clear view of what’s really happened, but we learn as much about it as the
characters are comfortable admitting.
Bejo
won best actress at Cannes for her role, which was well deserved, but at the
same time it feels odd to single out any of the performers. They’re all excellent at digging into these
characters and bringing out the fully realized people Farhadi wrote. That’s no small task considering how well
Farhadi understands people’s motivations.
He knows that no one thing causes a person to do something. It’s an amalgamation of things both realized
and unrealized that cause us to react in certain ways, and many of the
character’s arcs revolve around admitting to these unrealized motivations. The movie lists only Bejo, Rahim, and Mosaffa
as stars, but Burlet deserves to be billed as a star as well. She handles just as much difficult material as
the three adults.
This
will never be considered a fun film, but the rewards for the viewers willing to
watch it are many. There are intimately
recognizable moments between characters that bring a sinking feeling to your
gut. Everyone’s been disappointed by
someone they love, and everyone’s disappointed someone they love. These aren’t big moments filled with
histrionics and noise, but they are quietly and acutely felt. Asghar Farhadi understands this and brings it
to life as well as any filmmaker working today.
Other Notes:
Ø Burlet
appeared as young Edith Piaf in another excellent French film titled “La Vie en
Rose.” That’s the film that put Marion
Cotillard on the map here in America. I
hope this film does the same for Burlet and all the others.
Ø The
budget for “The Past” was significantly higher than for “A Separation.” I can’t say I noticed, but that may be more a
reflection of Farhadi’s skills than anything else.
Ø I
really need to see Farhadi’s other films.
No comments:
Post a Comment