Tacticalin An absolute waste of money

Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

mraculeated The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

paul2001sw-1 When a woman invites her husband, who now lives abroad, to visit to sign divorce papers, various pressures are applied to a delicate network of relationships. The premise of Ashgar Farhadi's film 'The Past' is fairly ordinary, although the details are very particular: what makes it exceptional is the dialogue and acting. All the cast are good, none more so than the very young Elyes Aguis, who plays the woman's troubled stepchild. The opening scene at Charles-de-Galle airport reprises a device from one of my favourite films of all time, 'L'Appartement'; the true-to-life ending points at continued uncertainty, rather than glib resolution.

Vultural ~ Estranged husband arrives from Tehran to give wife her Paris divorce. There, he meets her current - younger - boyfriend de jour. Also the man's son, as well as his wife's daughters by previous marriages. For reasons that are never quite determined, the woman has bounced around a bit. Of course, commitment is always demanding, and adjusting to another culture only adds to the difficulty. Gradually, secrets emerge about the older daughter's fury, and the boyfriend's comatose wife. Not a fun film, but well acted from an intelligent, adult script. Shot in suburbs far from touristy Paris. Nice to see Iranians not cast as terrorists or zealots.

Andres Salama An Iranian man named Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa) arrives in France to sign the divorce papers to his French former wife, Marie (played by Berenice Bejo, who was lovely as Poppy in The Artist). He is surprised that Marie wants him to stay in her house instead of booking him into a hotel. But he is more surprised when he learns that he will share that house not only with Marie and her three children (from a previous marriage), but also with her current lover, the Arab Amir (Tahar Rahim). Soon Ahmad learns that Marie's elder daughter, Lucie (Pauline Burlet) hates her, blaming her for the attempted suicide of Amir's wife, who is in a coma. Not going to tell more about the plot, but we are less than halfway into the film, and many more shocking revelations will occur.This is the fourth film by Iranian director Asghar Farhadi that I have seen (after A Separation, About Elly, and Fireworks Wednesday). All his movies have a remarkably similar structure. We have a few people interacting, usually representing different social classes (or cultures and nationalities, as in this film). Then, halfway into the movie something happens that sheds light, as in a psychodrama and after very heated discussions, the dark secrets and lies of the protagonists.To me, this film, despite its acclaim at the Cannes film festival, is less accomplished than his previous films. One reason I didn't like this film so much is the fact that the protagonist, Marie, is so relentlessly unlikeable. In past movies, all characters have, despite their flaws, a deep humanity. But here Marie is thoroughly unappealing, selfish, self- centered, manipulative, immature, angry. There is nothing likable about her, but we have to share her antics for more than two hours. This is not a criticism of Bejo's acting, since she plays very well a very unsympathetic character.

johnnymurphy15 After the Oscar success of 'A Separation', Iranian Director Asghar Farhadi was left with the difficult task of following up such a well received Film. To make things more difficult, he decided to make the film in France. Although I have never seen 'A Separation', I am happy to say that on it's own merits, 'The Past' is an excellent film for many reasons.Asghar Farhadi manages to weave together a complex family drama dealing with a myriad of feelings and reactions to a tragedy without being difficult to follow or without the self aware ambiguity which is now becoming a cliché. The story focuses on Marie (Berenice Bejo) who is divorcing her Iranian husband Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa) as she has entered a new relationship with Samir (Tahar Rahim). Samir is a conflicted man whose wife is in a coma after an attempted suicide which may or may not be the result of his affair with Marie. The possible reasons for her suicide are slowly revealed in the many beautifully scripted scenes. Marie's daughter Lucie (Pauline Burlet) is heavily involved in the whole debacle as she reveals initially to her adoptive father Ahmed that she exposed the affair to Samir's wife. Blame is shifted to a number of people involved as these revelations come to light and the issue of all this past trauma is making it difficult for all the characters to move on with their lives. In Marie and Ahmed's case, there is still a little something in their relationship, even though they are getting divorced, and in Samir's case, he may be still in love with his unconscious and possibly dying wife. The film ends with a lasting image that is subtly heart breaking, but with a hint of hope for a few characters who have resolved their issues and have moved on.Each character is well formed and very believable with excellent performances by everyone to match. You feel for every character in the film, including the young children who are played brilliantly by the evidently talented young actors. The film is very dialogue driven and reveals itself at a leisurely pace giving way to some emotionally hard going scenes without resorting to many obvious cliché's. It is a well balanced film which shows how tragic events of the past can effect peoples lives in the present. It is certainly one of the surprise gems so far this year and will hopefully get the praise it deserves because it is outstanding.See my Film Review Blog - www.projectionistreview.wordpress.com