Washington DC Area Film
Critics Association Awards2013
Nominated
WAFCA Award
Best Foreign Language Film
An Iranian man deserts his French wife and two children
to return to his homeland. Meanwhile, his wife starts up
a new relationship, a reality her husband confronts upon
his wife''s request for a divorce.
The Past (French: Le Passé) is a 2013 French drama film
written and directed by the Iranian director Asghar
Farhadi and starring Bérénice Bejo, Tahar Rahim and Ali
Mosaffa. It was nominated for the Palme d''Or at the 2013
Cannes Film Festivaland won the Prize of the Ecumenical
Jury. Bérénice Bejo also won the Best Actress Award. It
was shown at the 2013 Toronto International Film
Festival. The film was selected as the Iranian entry for
the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy
Awards, but it was not nominated. The film is also
nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 71st
Golden Globe Awards.
Plot:
Coming back to finalize his divorce procedure, Ahmad, an
Iranian man, arrives in Paris after four years to meet
his (soon to be) ex-wife and her daughters from her
previous marriage. She is in a relationship with an Arab
man named Samir who has a son and whose wife is in a
coma. The relationship of the older daughter and her
mother is strained because the daughter disapproves of
her mother''s relationship with Samir.
The Past (2013)
USER REVIEW
Just seen it in theater, and cannot believe it!
10/10
Author: abmindf
2 July 2013
Being one of the very few international movies played in
the Iranian cinemas, I wish to express my genuine
gratitude to every single being involved in this
masterpiece. there is no single glow of acting or
directing, the movie is a solid work of perfection in
all aspects.
Taking the performances into consideration, Bérénice
Bejo was truly living the movie. Confrontations of Marie
and Ahmad, accurately resembles the cultural and
personal differenced between two geographically distant
people who used to be in love and still have strong
feelings for each other. Naïma''s actions shows the true,
gray side of human beings which is accompanied with lies
and deceit. Lucie is a strangely well-played teenager
played by an unbelievably young and talented actress,
which deeply reminds us of the sensitivity and dangers
of that stage of life.
And last but definitely not least Samir, who is perhaps
the main character of the movie, reminds us of the very
nature of love. His sensitive character, still not fully
capable of emotionally bearing the fact that the mother
of his son is now in coma because of a not yet
well-reasoned suicide, is struggling in his new love
life. the true nature of this dilemma is more and more
explained when we find out that Samir is still in love
with his ex-wife and blames himself for her suicide.
Not to deny the greatness of Farhadi''s "a separation"
but as far as quality goes "the past" is a perfect and
unrepeatable event in every aspect. The Past touches us
deepest in our true feelings. Reminding us of the
mistakes we have made in our past.
The Past (2013)
A
great story, simple and realistic.
9/10
Author: Sam Thomas from United States
28 October 2013
Drama is beautifully presented through a regular daily
life we all have but barely pay enough attention to. The
way all characters are involved in the story line, each
playing a role in making us look at the story
differently is astonishing. Also, the way Farhadi shows
us how unreasonable we are when, without knowing a true
story, judging, concluding and making decisions and even
insisting on them is significant. He is a master, as he
showed in his previous works particularly About Eli and
A Separation, in combining characters with different
mentality and let them complicate a story by their
various rationality. Everything is gray in this movie
which might be seen lighter or darker by the audience
based on what character he or she makes better
connection with.
The Past (2013)
You Won''t Be Leaving This Film in Your Past
10/10
Author: FilmMuscle from United States
11 December 2013
Wow. Normally, I don''t write an analysis for every
single film I see, but I honestly found The Past to be
one of my favorite films this year. Unfortunately, the
fact that it''s a foreign film means a lot of people will
be missing out on this unforgettable experience. In sum,
it''s a story about a man who has returned to Paris in
order to finalize a divorce with his wife who, in the
meantime, is dating another man. Her teenage daughter is
in a shambles and frequently stays out late, unable to
face her mother and the new man she has brought home
with her. Once her true father appears, the situation
turns into a heavily intricate predicament. Deceitfully,
the film''s premise might seem overly simplistic; I
assure you it''s definitely not but seeing how the most
simplistic films strike box office gold anyways, I can''t
imagine why audiences would gripe about this one?
Now, Americans, in particular, might not be familiar
with the prevalence of a slower pace in European cinema.
Admittedly, I found myself struggling with some foreign
motion pictures (Amour being a recent- and most popular-
example) due to their sluggish pacing. In The Past''s
case, all of its characters are so complex and the
writing/storyline so brilliant that I couldn''t take my
eyes off the screen. The grit and rawness is all there
as is usual with European cinema and the realism so
striking that the movie clearly serves a provocation of
much thought and emotion. Disappointedly so, I stumbled
upon several comments on the narrative being annoyingly
plodding. "Absolutely nothing crazy happens in my first
hour and a half of watching!" Some are used to palpable
conflict/action, but the action here transpires on an
emotional level. The impeccable acting does extremely
well to service the script and- obviously- your
investment in this intriguing tale.
The morality isn''t exactly black-and-white for the
viewers to pick and choose which character is the
charming, perfect hero of the story. No, you''re cast
into this setting to study how real human beings would
act in a parallel difficulty. If you''re not quite too
keen on a single character, the events that occur
throughout might possibly change your mind, and
suddenly, you realize that you understand and sympathize
with this devastated and damaged individual as he deals
with the problem in a manner that he sees fit. There''s
just no amount of praise that''d feel sufficient towards
the remarkable quality of The Past. This is an
experience you likely won''t locate all too often in the
realms of Hollywood since the plot solely rely on its
genuine recounting rather than the implementation of
intense sequences in between more dialogue- heavy scenes
for the sake of waking up some disinterested attendees.
Sometimes, we attend the movie theater for some
fantastical fun, and other times, we attend it to
explore some incredibly meaningful themes- films that
engage us in more personal fashion. All in all, The Past
cannot be blatantly disregarded amidst a currently
lively time of movies- releasing left and right- and I
probably didn''t give the film adequate justice,
considering my unexpected and brief review, but I wrote
it regardless so as to inform the film lovers of a
magnificent presence that''ll hopefully grace a theater
near you sometime soon (if not, just wait for it on
DVD/Blu-ray).
The Past (2013)
Farhadi is a Novelist!
9/10
Author: sirnatofious from Budapest
30 September 2013
Another Great storyline by Farhadi, I myself always
hated movies and loved books, Asghar Farhadi made drama
interesting for me, the story telling is amazing in his
movies, no character is lost, everything has something
to do with the story. All actors are greatly chosen,
Berenice Bejo was as amazing as she could be, Samir and
Fouad actors were also very good(and they actually
looked like each other!), and Ali Mosaffa of course is a
wonderful actor! Maybe this wasn''t as great as A
Separation but it kept me in front of the screen even
for credits,.... He is a novelist, a long interesting
drama by him again, A Separation, About Elly, Wednesday
Fireworks, all amazing, He is in his early forties, We
expect a lot more from him!
The Past (2013)
Beautiful and Heartbreaking
10/10
Author: mary aleali from Iran
10 September 2013
I just came home from seeing the movie, so it''s fresh in
my mind right now.
the qualities that this movie has: 1. masterfully
directed 2. wonderfully written screenplay (the opening,
the ending and the exchanged dialogs are all very well-
written.very close to reality.no cheesy
scenes.believable) 3. amazing performances
Most of the people who watch this movie, already have "A
Separation" in their mind and are automatically
comparing the two movies the entire time of watching.I
kind of was doing the same thing. but I stopped that
thought and tried to enjoy this and focus on this movie
only.I''m glad I did so.in my opinion, the two movies are
different.this one has a different theme and atmosphere
and it''s romantic at times. there was more tension in "A
Separation" and almost all scenes were showing a
stressful moment.but this movie has some scenes in
between that are calmer.so it might be considered slow
by some, which again I think, is because it''s being
compared with the director''s previous work.
I personally think "The past" is a very well-made movie
with an interesting story and a must see.I definitely
recommend it to all movie lovers.
I give it a 10, cause I can''t really think of anything
in the film that I was bothered by, or any weaknesses.
