The Past
Directed by Asghar Farhadi
Released by Memento Films
The phrase “family drama” does not incite much excitement in me as a filmgoer. Typically, these are emotionally manipulative affairs with soap opera scripts.
Asghar Farhadi’s The Past avoids these pitfalls by weaving its melodramas delicately, relying on superb acting and a minimal filmmaking style to succeed.
Most of the dark details of the lives of the characters in The Past have already happened. Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa) is a man returning from his home country of Iran to France, where he is finalizing his divorce with his wife Marie (Bérénice Bejo). She has become involved with a new man, Samir (Tahar Rahim), whose wife is hospitalized after a suicide attempt.
The film slowly reveals the details surrounding the relationship between the three, as well as their individual pasts.
The acting is what drives the film, and from the first scene there is little else required to describe how haunted each character is besides the body language of the actors. Facial expressions in particular are focused on tightly, and subtle shifts in the entire film’s mood often originate from unblinking eyes and quivering lips.
The film has not a single note of music until the end credits, and this allows the sounds from within the film world to take a strong role in setting the mood in each scene. From rainfall on a roof to whirring traffic, each sound plays a very specific part.
Farhadi uses this technique to incredible results, such as in a scene where Marie and Samir have hung chandeliers in their car to bring them back to their house. Glass is heard tinkling lightly as the two discuss Marie’s divorce, cleverly highlighting the delicate nature of what they are discussing.
The script is the only part of the film that is flawed. Sometimes the plot requires a hard drive forward, and this means the development of a few characters towards the end is wholly unnecessary. The film struggles in particular to flesh out an employee at Samir’s business who is integral to the plot, and her part in the film comes across as sloppy.
Seven-year-old actor Elyes Aguis is by far the best performance, not to put down the others.
His character is being torn apart in his attempts to understand his mother’s suicide and his father’s adultery, and nothing in his life is concrete. This situation is constantly painted on his face, and Aguis handles explosive outbursts as effectively as he does softly explaining his feelings. Hopefully he carries this talent in acting as he ages.
The Past is an emotionally heavy watch, although very rewarding and exhilarating in its composition.
