Le passé - Das Vergangene

Ahmad, an Iranian back in France to finalize a divorce procedure with Marie, is going to be the involuntarily detonator of a time bomb by unveiling all the not-said things in an uptight blended family created by Marie and Samir, in the suburbs of Paris. Although he is not perfect, Ahmad is fundamentally empathetic and gets the conversations flowing. Thus, during these few days, he will be like the missing piece of a complex puzzle, and thanks to (because of ?) him, secrets will be revealed. With this growing tension, we sense that this blended family will either come out grown up or either imploded.

I invite you very strongly to discover the end of this beautiful film. During two hours, you will bathe in a tub filled with delicacy, anger, benevolence, love, sadness, respect, betrayal, empathy, ... The whole cast is excellent. Ali Mosaffa, Tahar Rahim and Pauline Burlet are particularly tremendous. Moreover, the photography, the music, the script and the direction are sublime. As a synthesis: 8/9 of 10.

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 / Le passé / Asghar Farhadi, 2013. Past Or future by Hossein Aghaee. Caught "The past" Asghar Farhadi's latest work last night in Isfahan" Farhadi's hometown" I gave ten star to the past like A separation but i confess that i like A separation more than this movie. The film was a masterpiece of Asghar Farhadi just like other film from this director. I hadn't been swept off my feet for a while, and The final sequence of the film had me amazing where name of Bérénice Bejo And Ali Mosaffa was appear in Céline and Samir hands masterfully. I will be shocked if this movie doesn't win an academy award and I hope heard the name Of Iran and Asghar Farhadi when the pocket will be open in this ceremony. This film start little late but when Ahmad and Lucie meet together for second time Farhadi enters first shock to the viewer. From this moments we can see specific signature of Farhadi's drama in this movie. Farhadi never talk about his movies explicitly but I guess purpose of The Past sending an alarm to the selfish man who's always run from his past or in other words its past decisions. This past decisions is impact in our life and the others that we like them to much and Farhadi says "Be careful of Bad effect" maybe for this Marie never let to Ahmad to explain the reason for departure because She believe That decisions is the starting point for adventures that occurred four years later.Similarly, we can determine to the relationship between Marie and Samir or decision of Lucie or Naïma's decision and Or even the Céline's decision.

Asghar Farhadi is fast becoming my favourite storyteller of the century. Bringing Le Passe into the screen after his success with A Separation (I haven't watched Elly yet), I am happy to see the same elements (which made Separation memorable) existent in this film.

Both films at the core are focused on family drama, but different challenges altogether. Separation deals with the complexities on a religious viewpoint, and requires swift, high-level decision-making and clever communication skills to undo what could go awry easily in many places. Le Passe's challenge is different in my opinion, it is about the complications on relationship issues - something that is much more relatable to many families out there - that always appear irrational, devastating, and at times result in repercussions through generations.

Farhadi's skills as a filmmaker are unmatched - every single moment in this film is not wasted. His stories are like humanity itself, where things do not appear as they are on the surface and there is always something that more than meets the eye. Similar to Separation, in Le Passe, we see layers upon layers of twists, uncertainties, and agenda unfold and it ends up with the audience knowing that things cannot conclude with a simple solution. These factors, packed with impeccable performances by the lead cast members, are fortunately very very realistic i.e. not over-dramatic or nonsensical(though a lot of shouting war was shown).

The combination of brilliant, intelligent storytelling and impressive delivery of emotional performance is certainly what La vie d'Adèle fail to match - Le Passe is my top film to win the foreign Oscars this year!

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!