Movie Review – 3 Faces

              https://www.facebook.com/CinemathequePassion/?tn-str=k%2AF

Still with fond thoughts about the film “Where is the friend’s home” , I had high expectations for “3 Faces” (伊朗三面戲劇人生), also an Iranian film. Though less favorably impressed, I find the latter artistically appealing especially in the way it weaves through the traditional beliefs and practices in the simple Iranian villages. Some of the filmmaking techniques used are also thought provoking enough to make the film worth writing a review about.

The film begins with a video showing a girl appealing for help and later appearing to have hanged herself to death. This is obviously one of the three faces implied in the film’s name. Looking earnest and half sobbing, the girl is seemingly prepared for the suicidal act and the video ends suddenly, leaving the audience in suspense.

Following this is the close-up of Behnaz Jafari, the well-known actress who has received the video via director Jafar Panahi. It is her distraught looking face that is shown in the entire long shot while that of the director, her companion on the trip, remains hidden. She is then seen walking restlessly about, leaving the director in the car answering phone calls, hinting that Jafari, in her anxiety about the suspected suicidal case, has walked out on her job of filmmaking.

Close-ups are also used to display the anxiety on the face of Panahi when he watches Jafari walking down a trail to a cottage in the distance. What happens in the cottage is not known. However, it can be deduced that Jafari, despite her fury previously, is there seeking a better understanding of the girl, who has caused her to be on the point of a nervous breakdown. Though seemingly an outsider, Panahi is with Jafari spiritually all the while. And the long shot can achieve this effect much better than the actual scene with Jafari talking with the girl and her cousin.

During the search, Safari and Panahi come into contact with the locals, thus getting to know about the Iranian hospitalities and courtesies. Personally, I find such details an added delight, and, in fact, a warm, sentimental touch to the film. The Iranians, though conservative, some even unreasonably stubborn, are actually very kind and friendly to strangers. On the way back to the cottage after using a borrowed phone in a small street-side store, Jafari walks in the dark for some distance. I was expecting a sudden attack on her from someone somewhere. But my fear was soon proved groundless.

And I love the way the film ends. Having horned his car a few times, Panahi again sits waiting in the car, the face unrevealed. Jafari is seen walking down the long, winding mountain pass. After some time, a few cars appear, one after another, round the mountain on the opposite side. As I see it, the exchange of car horns to avoid car crashes on the narrow pass implies that patient negotiation can lead to compromise. And that is what actually happens between the girl and her family. 

The film, therefore, delivers a meaningful message and is a good choice for viewers looking for a heart warming story. It is not surprising that it won the Best Screenplay Award at the 71st Cannes Film Festival.