Movie Review - The Past

The Past (Le passé) (2013)

Starring Bérénice Bejo, Tahar Rahim, Ali Mosaffa, Pauline Burlet, Elyes Aguis, and Jeanne Jestin

Directed by Asghar Farhadi

I was a huge fan of director-screenwriter Asghar Farhadi's last film A Separation (seriously, if you haven't seen it, don't let the subtitles frighten you), so I was very much looking forward to delving into The Past when I heard it was being released last year.  Veering away from the Middle East (although maintaining characters who reside from there), The Past takes place in France as Marie (Bérénice Bejo) is reuniting with her estranged husband Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa) to finalize a divorce after having been separated for several years.  Their relationship is perfectly civil with the duo realizing they simply weren't meant for each other, however, Marie's children (from a previous marriage) fawn over Ahmad much more than they care for Marie's new boyfriend Samir (Tahar Rahim).  Samir comes with a bit of baggage as well in the form of a young son who struggles to accept Marie as a new guardian.  The rest of the plot stems from the fact that Marie wants a divorce because she wants to marry Samir -- and none of the children involved love this notion.  Secrets then are gradually revealed, but, much like A Separation, it's best if you come to the film as unencumbered as possible in order to get the full impact of Farhadi's emotional plot.

Granted, there are times when The Past feels soap operatic (much more so than A Separation), however, the film works for the most part thanks to a strong performance from Ali Mossafa who anchors the flick in reality amidst the chaos that is going on all around him.  Bérénice Bejo (you know her from The Artist) won Best Actress at Cannes last year for this performance, but I can't necessarily agree with that win simply because her character feels a bit too shrill and overly emotional.  I found Marie to be the least "believable" character of anyone in the film and that's not really the fault of Bejo, but moreso lies in the way Farhadi wrote the character.

The film meanders a bit, but really does have a rather interesting final act in which pieces of this simplistic, though highly emotional, family puzzle come together.  I'd have rated this even higher if the film's final scene was a little more clear to me.  It's tough to discuss without spoiling things, but I'll try and be as vague as possible.  The film's final scene packs an emotional wallop as it is, but it ended rather open-ended.  So, wanting to see what the blogosphere thought of the ending, I went online and discovered that I had totally missed a very key element in the final scene.  This element is so nondescript that it's completely obvious why I missed it, but considering that it plays such an important role in the meaning of the ending, I can't help but think Farhadi could've made it a smidge more obvious.  Perhaps it's having to read the English subtitles that made me miss it, but regardless, this important element is incredibly easy to glance over.  The ending still "works" and is still powerful even without this pivotal piece of information, however, it's even more powerful (and gut-wrenching) having the knowledge of what Farhadi really wanted us to see.

The Past is a decent flick -- one that is worth watching if foreign dramas appeal to you -- and it certainly increased my appreciation for director-writer Asghar Farhadi.  However, I'd recommend the director's A Separation before this in a heartbeat.

The RyMickey Rating:  B