THE PAST – The Review

More prevalent now, than perhaps anytime in history, is the combined or “blended family” when a single parent with kids weds or begins a household with another parent with kids. It’s been the staple of gentle comedy like “The Brady Bunch” TV series and feature films and both versions of YOURS, MINE, AND OURS. The biggest conflicts in those earlier shows usually involved sharing bathrooms and noisy dinners. But those families’ heads were nearly always widows and widowers without ex-spouses showing up to further complicate matters. These more untidy splits are often the source of drama instead of mirth in many serious examinations of this type of family structure. And this isn’t something native to the USA. Overseas these new families must more often deal with different languages and cultures. Writer/director Asghar Farhadi follows up his Oscar-winning family drama A SEPARATION with this new tale of family clashes and deceit whose characters must deal with their actions in THE PAST.

THE PAST begins in the present day at a very busy Paris airport. Marie (Berenice Bejo) is picking up her husband Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa). It’s after they head to the parking lot that we find out that this is not a typical domestic scene. The two have not seen each other for several years when he had flown back to his native Iran during a time of inner turmoil. Ahmad has finally returned (Marie reminds him that he’s backed out of several trips at the last-minute) in order to finalize their divorce so that she may wed her new beau (and father of her upcoming baby) Samir (Tahar Rahim). Since she had not reserved him a hotel for fear of him canceling again, Marie drives them back to the house they once shared, a place she now shares with Samir. There Ahmad meets the spirited six year-old son of Samir, Fouad and is reunited with his stepdaughter, nine year-old Lea (Marie has two daughters from her husband prior to Ahmad). Later Lea’s high school aged older sister Lucie (Pauline Burlet) finally gets home (she’s been staying out all hours). Lucie reconnects with Ahmad and confesses her intense dislike of Samir. She pleads with Ahmad to help her move away from her mother and her new man. Lucie also gives him the lowdown on Samir. Turns out that his wife, Fouad’s mother, has been in coma and lies in a hospital after a botched suicide attempt. Was this prompted by learning of an affair between Marie and Samir? If that’s true, how did she find out? This tangled web of misunderstandings and lies will turn Ahmad’s brief visit to sign some legal papers into a tortured return that may tear apart this new family before they can start anew.

The actress most familiar to audiences may be Bejo from her Oscar nominated role in THE ARTIST. Here she’s given an even greater opportunity to showcase her considerable dramatic skills. Maria is quite a complex character. She tries to act civil and friendly to Ahmad, but it soon becomes clear that his leaving still affects her like an old wound. There’s also a vagueness to her as she wishes for her ex to sign those divorce papers and be left unaware of the particulars of her new life. The most impressive scenes are those in which she must confront her eldest daughter. Tensions are usually high during the teen years, but these heated arguments and accusations unleash an almost uncontrollable fury in Marie. With this film Bejo proves to be a formidable actress beyond her dazzling beauty. Luckily her partner in those scenes, Burlet as Lucie, is able to match Bejo’s intensity. She too nurses the wounds from Ahmad’s exit and resents this new man in her mother’s life. Lucie tries to mask her sorrow with rebellious behavior (satying out all night), but we can still see a glimpse of that lonely child. Mosaffa as Ahmad also tries to hide his guilt at leaving, especially with Lucie who thinks of him as her only father figure. He knows that he must earn his way back into the family in order to try to repair the many broken lives on a collision course. It was just supposed to be a quick trip, but this legal obligation turns into a rescue mission. Rahim as Samir is also torn between his obligations to his comatose wife and desire to begin anew with Marie, complicated by his very sad, angry, confused young son. Kudos also to Sabrina Ouazani as the shy, conflicted illegal immigrant worker who witnessed the suicide attempt by Samir’s wife.

Farhadi directs this cast with great skill, but the film is ultimately sabotaged by his own overly melodramatic script. In the film’s second half, Mosaffa and Rahim almost become Iranian Hardy Boys, digging up clues and interviewing suspects, in order to find out the truth behind the botched suicide. Quickly this intimate family drama turns into an Agatha Christie-inspired daytime TV serial (or “soap opera”) with one startling revelation dropping every few minutes (almost timed for commercial breaks). Happily the melodramatic turns don’t detract from the stellar performances (especially the wondrous Bejo) or the enchanting Parisian locations. THE PAST is an engrossing look at modern blended families that often works despite some treks into florid melodrama.

3.5 Out 5

THE PAST opens everywhere and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinemas