A famous Iranian actress receives a disturbing video from a young girl pleading for her help to escape her conservative family… She then asks her friend, the director Jafar Panahi, to help her understand whether it is a manipulation. Together, they set off towards the girl’s village, in the remote northwestern mountains where ancestral traditions continue to dictate local life.
In “Three Faces,” which won the Best Screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival, the Iranian filmmaker takes the wheel again to denounce the condition of women in his country and observes his actresses, these women, paving a way through the obstacles imposed by the archaic and oppressive patriarchy that is Iranian society, earning not only respect but also being a delight to watch.
In this road movie of incredible poetry, the Iranian filmmaker navigates between reality and fiction and dissects, always with benevolence, the patriarchal society of his country.
Very well constructed and performed with impressive expression by both professionals and amateurs, and directed with a gripping sense of timing, the film captivates the viewer from start to finish.
Still under house arrest, the filmmaker continues his sensitive and inspired mapping of contemporary Iran.
This rural road movie is also a tribute to the late Abbas Kiarostami, with whom Jafar Panahi was an assistant and co-screenwriter. Many shots filmed from behind the windshield, on the narrow and winding roads of this distant province, are reminiscent of those of his elder when he filmed “Through the Olive Trees” or “Taste of Cherry.”
