Nothing can be as layered as human relationships. And our attitude towards
people around us or the approach towards the very life we are in is solely
responsible for making it either an enjoyable exercise to explore many a phenomenal
stratums underneath or even more complicated to ruin the fascination. To move
on, is a must to learn but even returning to the past can have a prolific
side-effect to make things brighter on the other side.
The man behind A SEPARATION – 2011’s Oscar winner in Best Foreign Film
category, Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi is back with THE PAST [Le
Passé]- an intricate emotional thriller [I
am still looking for an apt genre-segmentation to place it justly] that not only skins off an
assortment of emotional acquaintances between every possible relationship under
a roof but also evokes required empathy for every person and his/her ability to
tackle it in his/her own way.
After 4 years, Ahmad [played by Ali Mosaffa] is in town to meet his 3-times
married ex-wife Marie [Bérénice Bejo of ‘THE
ARTIST’ ] & to co-operate with her in settling down the divorce process between
them, a must for her before marrying a new boyfriend. Ahmad lands up in her house
for a short term stay where he re-makes heartrending connection with her daughters
and her boyfriend’s son from past marriage. Soon, he starts smelling the combustible
emptiness within the walls and before he could really do something about this,
the outburst happens to form a big emotional turmoil for everyone in the house.
The beauty lies in the simplistically naïve plot that never looks made-up
or adulterated to create drama. Characters take their journey through plausible
events and a well-conceived screenplay that justifies every single move taken
by them. The emotions are not rare but as raw as anyone would articulate in
such situations. Twists in the tale unravel in such flow that neither makes you
overtly shaken nor leaves you unreceptive. You don’t really become ‘awestruck’
by the revelations but will sure make a connection here with the events and its
grounds.
Performances are convincingly believable and well-defined. For once, your will never find a negative
character but the situations that bring out some ‘not so favorable to all’ choice
of acts. In fact, every character has its own charm to allure your constant attention. Though you might get little apprehensive
about the pace of the film and would probably feel exhausted by a little too
much twists in a stretch to reach a feasible end but the top-class
cinematography and the slice-of-life look and feel of the film never loses its grip on you.
Experience
Ahmad’s soul-stirring relationship with the daughters. Feel the helplessness of
a single mother trying to deal with her teenage daughter’s disapproval of her
moving on with life. Sense the daughter’s guilt of creating mayhem in her
mother’s life. And a kid who’s going through an emotional crisis no one tries
to understand. There is so much about life & relationships in Asghar
Farhadi’s THE PAST. How much can you learn or unlearn, find out yourself! It is
here to stay…in your hearts! [4/5]
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