The Past 2013 ★★★
Watched Jan 01, 2014
After taking the critical
world by storm with 2011's A Separation, Asghar Farhadi has followed up two
years later with another domestic drama in The Past. When Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa)
returns to the home he once shared with his wife Marie (Berenice Bejo), upon
her request for an official divorce so that she can be with Samir (Tahar
Rahim), a collision ensues that results in the uprooting of deep issues and a
myriad of secrets being exposed. It's a simple premise that produces a searing
exploration of these many character dynamics and how different perspectives can
entirely skew a collection of events in a way that can leave lasting
repercussions that reverberate through an entire family, stretching across
multiple homes.
The Past opens with Marie
greeting Ahmad at the airport, the two being separated by a pane of glass where
they can see each other but aren't able to communicate verbally. It's a bit
on-the-nose but represents Farhadi's central idea that so many of the problems
in this family could be solved if people were willing to lay their thoughts
down on the table and stop hiding things from one another. However that seems
to be too tall a task for most members of humanity to measure up to and it's
these secrets that decimate not only the core trio of Farhadi's character drama
but also their children, Marie's two daughters and Samir's son, along with
several periphery characters who are drawn into this maze that their lies
weave. It's an idea that speaks to a growing problem in our society, but one
that Farhadi grounds within these characters played out by a collection of
superb performances.
The Past isn't without its
faults; the constant exposing of new revelations becomes operatic to an almost
absurd degree at times and there's an unfortunate representation of the women
in the picture as shrill and melodramatic while the men remain composed and
more reasonable, but the weaknesses in Farhadi's writing are often mended by
the excellent work of his cast. I personally wasn't fond of A Separation but it
was hard to argue with Farhadi's ability to draw some great performances from
his actors and that's not only continued here but even further improved upon
with a much more resounding overall product. Whereas his previous film felt
like it reduced its characters to being solely in service of shallow cultural
themes that got bogged down by inconsequential ambitiousness that ultimately
proved futile, The Past streamlines everything into a character piece that
managed to keep me engaged through its entirety and leave much more of a
lasting impression.
Instead of building his
characters primarily as props, Farhadi presents a much wider scope and a bounty
of dynamics that allow the actors to flesh out their characters through their
personal dilemmas and the pain they struggle with. You can feel the sincerity
of Ahmad in Mosaffa's expressions, the way he holds his body informing the
struggle he endures through seeing his wife living with another man and his
family. Bejo is presented with the most theatrical material that has her rip
into plenty of dramatic outbursts but she controls them in a way that grounds
the character in something more human than other actors could have conjured up.
Rahim is heartbreaking as a man not only stuck between two families but also
trying to come to terms with his own culpability in a great loss, with the
final shot being a beautiful but damaging reflection on his position in life.
There's so much going on
with each of these characters that a mere two hours isn't nearly enough time to
really provide us with as full a picture as desired, and ultimately Farhadi
leaves things on a disappointingly open note that doesn't resolve or give a
peace of mind to everything we experienced over the course of it. While I do
ultimately feel that the actors keep Farhadi from running too far into
melodramatics here, The Past does on reflection feel like an exercise of
escalation that exists for no reason other than to escalate. I found it a much
more satisfying work than A Separation, but there's still an incompleteness
that makes it unfulfilling in the end. Despite its flaws though, there's a
richness in The Past and the work of the actors (last minute shout out to
Pauline Burlet who does tremendous work as Marie's daughter Lucie) that allows
me to embrace it more than reject it and as someone who wasn't a fan of the
director's previous work I must say that was a pleasant surprise.
http://letterboxd.com/mitchell/film/the-past/
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