O Passado

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!

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.

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.

The flavors , nuances and tension of A Separation are present in this admirable crafted drama. Realistic portrait of vulnerabilities, fair portraits of characters, wise lines of story, it is a film about loneliness , options, desires, family in special way. A film about meanings of small details, changing everything, about ages and, off course, about past as lifeblood of present. Splendid acted, it gives all the shadows of the fall.

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.