The Past - French - Family

After charming audiences worldwide with A Separation, Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi returns this year with a French film, The Past (Le Passe). Ahmed an Iranian returns back to Paris after 4 years to complete the divorce proceedings with his wife, Marie. Marie who is now in a relationship with Samir, wants Ahmed to talk to her elder daughter Lucie who seems to be distressed with the entry of Samir into her mother’s life. Pretty soon the characters get drawn into an intricate web of complex relationships, threatening to upset both old and new relationships. While there is a resemblance in terms of the basic theme with A Separation, its very interesting to see how Asghar Farhadi has managed to still keep the film engaging enough and make it look worthwhile. The performances are all noteworthy and Berenice Bejo in fact won the Best Actress Award at Cannes Film Festival this year for her portrayal of Marie.  It is heartening to know that a film like this would be getting a theatrical release in India as well shortly.

Picture Courtesy : IMDB