Drei Gesichter

Jafar Panahi really made a masterpiece here, kinda had a nostalgic vibe to taste of cherry due to some frames and also Through the olive tree (Movies By Abbas Kiarostami), which which I personally enjoyed really well. the camera work was really good as well as the script. this movie was all about small details, about tradition, differences and limitation in Iran. after "This is not a movie", which blown me away, I'm speechless again.

Let's all hope for a day of no limitations and closed borders.

Story: An Iranian girl wants to be an actress & gets a famous Iranian actress to investigate her desire. A relatively tame presentation of the issue. I've seen many movies on what young females, wherever they may be (including unlikely Western democracies), face to maintain family honor though obedience & marriage, e.g. coercion, shaming, disowning, punishment, imprisonment, & death. "A women who wants to study dishonors her family." "God blesses families with a son." "Marriage would make her forget about studies." Others to watch: "Difret", "A Suitable Girl", "What Will People Say", "He Named Me Malala".

Jafar Panahi is a legendary Iranian director who has been banned from making films for 20 years. Despite this, he continues to create and express himself as an artist. Watching a new film by Panahi is incredibly gratifying because he is a savvy rebel who laughs in the face of his sentence and produces fascinating cinematic works. Panahi has mastered the art form of filmmaking with startling finesse, and he manipulates and evolves it in unique and exciting ways.

His latest film, "3 Faces", is a tragic story about the strength of women. It suggests that misogyny still exists in Iran. The film is enigmatic and enlightening.

This is a brilliant film. Beautiful, poignant, unpredictable, quite harsh yet with a few sparks of humour. The actors (mostly playing themselves) and the screenplay are amazing. It does require a lot of attention and analysis, as it covers several social issues (artists' and women's rights mainly) with subtle metaphors and a peculiar visual "language". Some moments were a bit too cryptic for me, probably due to a cultural gap. You have to respect Jafar Pahani for managing to create such a rich and multi-layered visual story under such hard conditions and constraints. I highly recommend "Se rokh".

The old, forgotten actress, the established, popular actress and an aspiring actress. Against the cultural landscape of Iran it can be tricky to do this profession as a woman.

Metafiction, docufiction and everything in between. Of course, it's Jafar Panahi, it's expected to find plenty of discourse about movie-making and its difficulties. At one point, the actress is trying to explain to an old villager that the actor he admires cannot come back to Iran anymore and Panahi cannot leave Iran. It's a short line, we get it. The man doesn't, of course, but it wasn't really for him. There's also a healthy dose of criticism against the patriarchy by merely observing these people and letting it all play out. There is no discourse served to the audience, no loud, rousing statements. Some of these men would kill to avenge their skewed idea of honour.

Although I appreciated most of the scenes, it did feel a little too long, although it's really not, and maybe Panahi's metafiction is beginning to wear me out. But I guess he did get a chance to make the movie he was referring to in "This Is Not a Film". At least the core idea from there is the same, even if the story goes to a different place. Girl from a conservative family wants to study, but her family forbids it. She contemplates suicide.