Reviewed by rogerco,
on 20 Dec 2022
Where seen:
DVD proj @ home
Strange, but again unsatisfying
Review of" 3 Faces
Film directed by: Jafar Panahi
Film released: 2018
Review
It starts by concentrating on two faces, for the first few minutes we only see Marziyeh filming herself talking to camera, then we cut to Behnaz's face for a few minutes as she is in Jafari's car heading north and they are discussing the video.
It then opens out to more conventional shots as they get near the village, but the people they encounter seem alien to my western eyes and their motives and meanings are unclear. As the truth about Marziyeh unfolds through her family and friend, Maedeh (?), we see an ancient self contained community living in what seem tumbledown homes and the incipient conflict between the pressure of the modern and the rock of community and culture.
In the end Marziyeh does 'escape' with Behnaz and Jafari - but isn't she escaping to a more gilded and less substantial cage? Perhaps this is the meaning of the unseen third face of the old pre-revolution actress who has retired to live alone and isolated in the village and who has befriended Marizyeh..