News

The 80th Venice Film Festival is shaping up to be a star-studded affair, with Michael Mann, Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, and David Fincher all set to premiere their latest films at the festival.

Mann will be bringing his long-awaited biopic of Enzo Ferrari, Ferrari, to Venice. The film stars Adam Driver as Ferrari and Penélope Cruz as his wife, Laura. It is scheduled to premiere on August 25, the opening night of the festival.

Polanski will be presenting his latest film, The Palace, a psychological thriller set in a luxury hotel in the 1980s. The film stars Emmanuelle Seigner, Rebecca Dayan, and Pauline Burlet. It is scheduled to premiere on August 30, the second day of the festival.

Woody Allen and Roman Poloanski

Allen will be showing his latest comedy, Coup de Chance, which stars himself, Cate Blanchett, and Louis Garrel. The film is a romantic comedy about a man who wins...

"I think he fancies you." Film Movement has debuted an official trailer for an indie romantic drama titled The Sower, originally Le Semeur in French. Adapted from Violette Ailhaud's novel, and directed by first-time filmmaker Marine Francen, the film is set in 1851 and is about a small farming village in the Lower Alps that is cutoff from all men. France's autocratic President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte has ordered the arrest of all the men, and so the women take an oath: if a man comes, they will share him as a lover. When a mysterious and handsome stranger arrives, he ignites passions and jealousies that threaten to destroy the tight-knit community. The Sower stars Pauline Burlet as Violette, along with Geraldine Pailhas, Alban Lenoir, Iliana Zabeth, Francoise Lebrun, and Raphaëlle Agogué. Shot in 1.37:1, this looks like it has some lush, gorgeous cinematography amidst all the heavy sexual tension and infighting.

A different version of “The Sower,” Marine Francen’s poised and petite freshman feature, might have included the extended, rather remarkable story behind its literary source. Aged 84, former village schoolteacher Violette Ailhaud wrote her autobiographical short story “L’homme semence” in 1919, passing it to an attorney with clear instructions that it be given to her eldest female descendant in 1952, a full century after the events it documents; a curious, bittersweet tale of lost innocence and sexual conspiracy in a community of women, it remained in the family for half a century before being published, to steadily building acclaim, in 2006. Some manner of film adaptation was inevitable. Francen’s, however, honors Ailhaud by telling only the story she wrote, albeit with subtly modernized language and aesthetics, underlining its enduringly provocative gender politics in the process.

The resulting film is so delicately wrought and exquisitely visualized that the harsher, eerier details of...

Thirteen first and second films revealed.

The San Sebastian Film Festival has revealed 13 of the first and second films by European, Asian and Latin American filmmakers set to compete for the Kutxabank-New Directors Award.

Among the films are Chilean film Princess, produced by Juan de Dios, Pablo Larraín and Fernanda del Nido, and the first film by Marine Francen, former assistant to Michael Haneke and Olivier Assayas, starring Pauline Burlet (The Past) and Géraldine Pailhas (Young & Beautiful).

Princess is the second feature film by Marialy Rivas. The Chilean director debuted with Young & Wild (Joven & Alocada) selected for Films in Progress 20 at the San Sebastian Festival (2011) and a competitor in Horizontes Latinos after winning the World Cinema Screenwriting Award at Sundance in 2012.

The film, which was selected by Films in Progress 28, narrates the experience of a 12-year-old girl living in a sect.

The Sower (Le Semeur), the first film by Marine Francen, former assistant...

Thirteen first and second films revealed.

The San Sebastian Film Festival has revealed thirteen of the first and second films by European, Asian and Latin American filmmakers set to compete for the Kutxabank-New Directors Award.

Among the films are Chilean movie Princess, produced by Juan de Dios, Pablo Larraín and Fernanda del Nido and the first film by Marine Francen, former assistant to Michael Haneke and Olivier Assayas, starring Pauline Burlet (The Past) and Géraldine Pailhas (Young & Beautiful).

Princess is the second feature film by Marialy Rivas. The Chilean director debuted with Young & Wild (Joven & Alocada) selected for Films in Progress 20 at the San Sebastian Festival (2011) and a competitor in Horizontes Latinos after winning the World Cinema Screenwriting Award at Sundance in 2012.

The film, which was selected by Films in Progress 28, narrates the experience of a 12 year-old girl living in a sect.

The Sower (Le Semeur), the first film by Marine Francen, former assistant...

Free Radicals: Bouchareb Explores a Mother’s Nightmare in Topical Treatment

French director Rachid Bouchareb is no stranger to exploring the actions radicalized children have on their bewildered parents, as evidenced in his eloquent 2008 feature, London River. Whereas his earlier film dealt with the aftermath of disastrous actions, Bouchareb returns to the topical issue of Western recruitment into contemporary terrorist cells, this time centered on drama as it unfolds in The Road to Istanbul. We’ve become accustomed to these types of narratives from the perspectives of perplexed loved ones, desperately searching for explanations as to why friends or family were coerced or brainwashed into such despicable acts of violence, both domestically and abroad. In many ways, this is another statistical composite of such grim realities, but features a performance perfectly administered by actress Astrid Whettnall, who succinctly captures the desperation of a woman caught up in an unexpected nightmare.

Reviewed in today's Berlinale Diary: Heiner Carow's The Journey to Sundevit; Ted Fendt's Short Stay with Meaghan Lydon, Marta Sicinksa and Mike Maccherone; André Téchiné's Being 17, co-written with Céline Sciamma and starring Sandrine Kiberlain, Kacey Mottet Klein, Corentin Fila and Alexis Loret; Ivo M. Ferreira's Letters from War with Miguel Nunes, Margarida Vila-Nova, Ricardo Pereira, João Pedro Vaz and João Pedro Mamede; Philip Scheffner's Havarie; Anne Zohra Berrached's 24 Weeks with Julia Jentsch, Bjarne Mädel, Johanna Gastdorf, Emilia Pieske and Maria Dragus; and Rachid Bouchareb's Road to Istanbul with Astrid Whettnall, Pauline Burlet, Patricia Ide and Abel Jafri. » - David Hudson...

Reviewed in today's Berlinale Diary: Heiner Carow's The Journey to Sundevit; Ted Fendt's Short Stay with Meaghan Lydon, Marta Sicinksa and Mike Maccherone; André Téchiné's Being 17, co-written with Céline Sciamma and starring Sandrine Kiberlain, Kacey Mottet Klein, Corentin Fila and Alexis Loret; Ivo M. Ferreira's Letters from War with Miguel Nunes, Margarida Vila-Nova, Ricardo Pereira, João Pedro Vaz and João Pedro Mamede; Philip Scheffner's Havarie; Anne Zohra Berrached's 24 Weeks with Julia Jentsch, Bjarne Mädel, Johanna Gastdorf, Emilia Pieske and Maria Dragus; and Rachid Bouchareb's Road to Istanbul with Astrid Whettnall, Pauline Burlet, Patricia Ide and Abel Jafri. » - David Hudson...

Films include Shepherds and Butchers with Steve Coogan; Don’t Call Me Son from Anna Muylaert; and a documentary about a director and actress who were kidnapped by Kim Jong-il.

The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.

A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.

Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer who faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself, in a case...

Films include Shepherds and Butchers, starring Steve Coogan; Don’t Call Me Son from Anna Muylaert; and a documentary about a director and actress who were kidnapped by Kim Jong-il and forced to make films.

The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.

A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.

Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself...

La route des lacs (Road to Istanbul)

Director: Rachid Bouchareb

Writers: Rachid Bouchareb, Zoe Galeron, Yasmina Khadra, Olivier Lorelle

Franco-Algerian director Rachid Bouchareb continues a prolific shooting schedule with his latest project, La route des lacs (Road to Istanbul), which tackles an extremely topical scenario regarding terrorist recruits and Isis when a mother discovers her child has joined the dangerous organization. Recently, Bouchareb has been navigating the Us Pacific Southwest with English language items Just Like a Woman (2012) and his 2014 remake of Two Men in Town. For this latest, he pairs with regular co-writers Lorelle, Galeron, and Yasmina Khadra (who penned the exceptional 2012 film The Attack for Ziad Doueiri, which Bouchareb produced), and the film will be headlined by Belgian actress Astrid Whettnall and rising star Pauline Burlet (who appeared in La Vie En Rose as well as Asghar Farhadi’s The Past in 2013). Thus far, this sounds similar to Bouchareb’s 2008 film,...

Exclusive: Oscar-nominated Bouchareb explores plight of parents who lose children to Isis.Elle Driver has boarded Jorge Michael Grau’s earthquake drama 7.19 am and Rachid Bouchareb’s Road to Istanbul [pictured], about a mother who goes in pursuit of her Isis recruit daughter, ahead of the American Film Market (Afm). The company also start pre-sales on Audrey Dana’s comedy If I Were a Boy, in which she stars as a woman who wakes up with a penis, and Harry Cleven’s fantasy romance Angel. Franco-Algerian Bouchareb’s Road to Istanbul stars Belgian actress Astrid Whettnall as a single mother on a quest to find her 18-year-old daughter after she leaves Belgium to join the Islamic State with a Jihadist boyfriend. “My goal is to film the incomprehension of a mother totally caught off guard by the changes in her daughter on reaching legal age… Alone, divorced and abandoned by the authorities, she must try...

Cedric Jimenez’s crime-thriller starring Jean Dujardin impressed in Cannes.

Gaumont’s Jean Dujardin crime-thriller La French has pre-sold to Drafthouse Films for the Us.

Director Cedric Jimenez’s period crime-thriller was in-demand in Cannes after debuting on promo.

Dujardin stars as a French police magistrate who spends years trying to take down one of the country’s most powerful drug rings.

The deal was negotiated by Cecile Gaget and Yohann Comte from Gaumont International and James Shapiro and Tim League from Drafthouse Films.

Alain Goldman produces for Legende Films, while Dujardin’s co-stars include Gilles Lellouche (as mob boss Gaetan Zempa), Benoit Magimel, Celine Sallette and Pauline Burlet.

Cecile Gaget, head of Gaumont Intl., said: “We want to launch La French, a movie we consider to be a milestone in French genre cinema, with a director-friendly partner who understands how cool this movie is. We think Drafthouse Films is the perfect match.”

Director Jimenez...

The latest film by Asghar Farhadi, The Past, could have used the same title as his last film A Separation. Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa) returns to Paris to finalize his divorce with Marie (Berenice Bejo) after a four-year separation. But when he returns to his old home, he finds that a lot has changed.

Marie has taken up with a new man, Samir (Tahar Rahim), who comes with his own baggage. He has a wife, who is currently in a coma. And his presence creates tension in Marie’s relationship with her daughter Lucie (Pauline Burlet), who is not actually related to Ahmad (but to a derelict in Brussels). However, because Ahmad is the closest to a father figure in Lucie’s life, he attempts to reconcile the differences between Lucie and Marie. But he uncovers even more secrets in the process.

Read more...

What to Watch is back in two-week form this time around, hitting the most important Blu-ray, DVD, and streaming offerings from both March 25th and April 1st. No April Fool’s Day jokes here. We’re above that. Sorta. What you will find is one of the best movies of last year, a fantastic comedy series, a foreign film you really should see, and further proof that John Cusack is merely slipping into straight-to-dvd oblivion like that damn horse in “The Neverending Story”. Pick one of the six. What the Hell, pick two.

The Wolf of Wall Street

Photo credit: Paramount

“The Wolf of Wall Street”

One of the best films of 2013 is here in a mildly disappointing Blu-ray given the rumors of four or even Six hour cuts reportedly in the works for release someday. Consequently, this practically movie-only release has the feel of a placeholder, something to put...

Director: Asghar Farhadi; Screenwriter: Asghar Farhadi; Starring: Bérénice Bejo, Tahar Rahim, Ali Mosaffa, Pauline Burlet, Elyes Aguis; Running time: 130 mins; Certificate: 12A

After picking up an Oscar in 2012 for A Separation, Iranian writer/director Asghar Farhadi returns to similar ground, exploring the domestic tensions in a household where traditional values are challenged. Here, the setting is France where Bérénice Bejo puts away the jazz hands that grabbed our attention in The Artist, as Marie, a single mother caught between two Arab men.

Tahar Rahim, who commanded the screen in A Prophet (less so in big budget drama Black Gold) is on typically brooding form as Marie's live-in lover Samir. However, they're beyond the honeymoon phase. She has trouble disciplining his little boy Fouad (Elyes Aguis) and her eldest daughter of two, Lucie (Pauline Burlet) mooches around the house disapprovingly. Added to this mix is Marie's soon-to-be ex-husband Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa...

A remarkably grounded French-Iranian drama about a broken family trying to mend; unexpectedly riveting, thanks in part to one of 2013’s best ensembles. I’m “biast” (pro): loved A Separation, adore Tahar Rahim

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

A woman meets a man at an airport. Their greeting is familiar but not romantic… or maybe what we’re seeing is strained romance? Who are they to each other? As she drives him to her home and gets him settled in for a stay, we gradually come to appreciate that they were once a couple, but he — Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa) — ran back home to Iran and left her — Marie (Bérénice Bejo: Populaire, The Artist) — in the lurch, and now she has asked him for a divorce, which is why he has returned, for the legal proceedings. She wants to...

Persona (Criterion Collection) (Blu-ray/DVD) I have watched all of Criterion's new Blu-ray for Ingmar Bergman's absolute classic, Persona, and will have a more in-depth look at the film tomorrow, but for now let me just say I consider this an essential title for film fans interested in collecting the best cinema has had to offer over the course of its rich history. I only saw Persona for the first time a little over three years ago and was absolutely floored. It's one of those films you don't need to "get" to understand, which I know is confusing. Put, hopefully, more simply, this is a film that's meant to confuse and confound, but it does it in such a way that you never feel you're missing something. Yet, by the end you'll be left enthralled by the images you've witnessed, the story (or lack thereof) you've witnessed, the performances,...

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...

Filmgoers may bash the January to October movie fare for being boisterous, obnoxious, directed by Michael Bay, etc. However, even during the supposedly tasteful sanctuary that is the award season of November to January, those films themselves can be lumped together to sponsor their own lack of subtlety.

That is not to say these films aren’t as good as they are, but only that after seeing numerous movies which could be weaseled into sarcastic “Tropic Thunder” previews (looking at you, “Saving Mr. Banks”), the yearly accusation of certain films “trying too hard” to become “Oscar bait” proves to be a “Transformers”-like inundation in itself.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

In the second big weekend of 2014 arrives “The Past,” a leftover from last year but one just opening on Friday in Chicago. For those who are looking for something that doesn’t “try too hard,” but with an even bigger pay-off on a more humbled scale,...

Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa) has made the trip from Iran to Paris for the first time in four years to finally sign divorce papers, officially ending his marriage to Marie (Berenice Bejo) at her request. Upon his arrival at the airport, Marie sees him through a thick pane of glass. She smiles, he shrugs. The airline has lost his bag and will have to send it to him the following day. They communicate by mouthing words and using hand gestures. One understands the other, but the metaphor is quite clear. At this moment in the film we know nothing about these two people. They could be happily married and he returning home from a business trip and she simply picking him up, but writer/director Asghar Farhadi and cinematographer Mahmoud Kalari's visual representation of the invisible barrier between the two weighs heavy on the rest of the film. Farhadi's The...

The Past, Iran's Submission for the Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. U.S. : Sony Pictures Classics. International Sales Agent: Memento Films International

Comparing the Academy Award-winning A Separation to Asghar Farhadi’s French-language film The Past, his first film outside of his native Iran, is like comparing two equally beautiful diamonds cut differently by the same master jeweler. The only reasonable way to put them on the same ground is to note the masterful caliber of storytelling achieved once again by the Iranian auteur. It is hard to think of any other working writer/director that has such a perfectly calibrated talent for creating tension out seemingly ordinary circumstances. Days after watching his latest work The Past its powerful themes and even more riveting mystery still linger refusing to be forgotten. Continuing with his fervent interest in failed relationships Farhadi proves that in his stories, just like many times in life, the end is actually only the beginning.

Persuaded by his wife Marie (Bérénice Bejo) and ready to bring his life in France to a conclusion, Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa) returns from Tehran to Paris to finalize their divorce after living apart for four years. Upon his return he is invited by Marie to stay at the house they used to share with the pretense that her daughters Lucie (Pauline Burlet) and Léa (Jeanne Jestin) want to see him. He soon realizes Marie has someone else in her life, a young man named Samir (Tahar Rahim) who now lives in the house with his son Fouad (Elyes Aguis). Desperate for help, Marie needs Ahmad to talk to Lucie, a teenager, whose rebellious behavior and aversion towards Samir she can’t understand. Despite having no children as product of their marriage Ahmad is the only father figure Lucie can trust, and the only person to whom she will reveal the secrets that surround Marie’s relationship with Samir.

Involuntarily thrown into the family’s turmoil, Mosaffa’s character is a bystander who is trying to figure out what his role in the situation is. He acts as the diplomatic ambassador between all parties because he cares for the girls, but he can’t ignore Marie’s selfish decisions and her ulterior motives for needing his presence. Bejo is impeccable, contained at first but effectively explosive as her meticulously constructed life starts to fall apart when the morality of her romance with Samir is questioned. She can’t be judged for falling in love again, but what if that love became a dangerous catalyst for another person’s demise? Is she responsible for following her desires in spite of the damage? In turn, Samir's perspective takes over the last part of the film as he attempts to place the responsibility of his actions on someone else, only to discover that the past he thought would never return has been luring in the background.

It is precise to avoid revealing crucial details about the film’s twists and turns, as each of them comes at a specific time determined by the artist to infuse this intense drama with an enthralling quality that keeps the audience guessing. From behind windows and doors the viewer is made aware of his condition as a silent witness to the characters’ predicaments. Inaudible conversations add to the suspenseful mood that permeates the film only comparable to that of a high-octane thriller. Lead by an entire cast of magnificent actors, this a film that captures one’s attention instantly and only asks the viewer to be willing to be guided, and misguided, through the lives of its imperfect characters. Farhadi also plays with the viewer’s expectations and banks on his protagonists’ hesitation. Just when it seems like a secret will never be told, the master flips the story around, unveils said mysterious piece of information, and then outstandingly takes it away by setting up an even more important one. Evidently, this is the work of one of the most achieved dramatic artists in World Cinema today.

Farhadi crafts a story about the past entirely told in the present. Refusing to use flashbacks or to fully reveal the events that lead to what unfolds on screen, his drama reaches higher stakes as the characters faults are revealed one by one in an inconspicuous manner. Plagued with red herrings and half-truths there is no clear villain or unquestionable motivation. Written with full knowledge and command of the human condition, the director has scored another masterpiece of grand emotional value and keeps on pushing the boundaries of storytelling. His subjects are never left unaccountable for their actions or free of consequences, yet, for all the terrible outcomes of their past mistakes Farhadi offers them a new redemptive chance. He allows them to forgive, but not to forget. Undoubtedly, The Past is one of the best films of the year.

Read more about all the 76 Best Foreign Language Film Submission for the 2014 Academy Awards...

"The Past," Asghar Farhadi's first movie produced outside Iran, contains several notable shots of people looking at each other through glass. It's an apt illustration of the movie's analytic power: Throughout writer-director Farhadi's wrenching, relentlessly intelligent drama, characters shield their feelings with unspoken motives and actions. Like last year's Oscar-winning "A Separation," Farhadi's new work confirms his unique ability to explore how constant chatter and anguished outbursts obscure the capacity for honest communication. Farhadi's latest effort also resembles "A Separation" in that it's secretly a detective story about relationships only partially understood by their participants. Ahman (Ali Mosaffa) arrives in Paris from his native Iran four years after separating from wife Marie (Bérénice Bejo) in order to finalize their divorce. He finds the family at an uneven crossroads: While Marie plans to marry Samir (Tahar Rahim), Lucie (Pauline Burlet) -- her teen daughter...

A hit at this year's Cannes Film Festival where it snagged its lead actress Bérénice Bejo the Best Actress prize over some tough competition from the likes of Marion Cotillard and Tilda Swinton, Asghar Farhadi's follow-up to "A Separation," "The Past," finally opens this Friday in select theaters, during the heat of awards season. Indiewire is pleased to premiere an exclusive scene from the ensemble drama. Read More: Cannes: Asghar Farhadi On Why He Still Feels Censored as a Filmmaker Despite Making 'The Past' in France and Not in Iran Shot over a whopping four months in Paris following two months of intense rehearsals, "The Past," Farhadi's first film shot outside of his native Iran, centers on Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa), who, after returning to Paris from Tehran in order to finalize his divorce to Marie (Bejo), discovers all is not well at home with his soon to be ex...

The Past (Le passé) Sony Pictures Classics Reviewed for Shockya by Harvey Karten. Data-based on RottenTomatoes.com Grade: B+ Director: Asghar Farhadi Screenwriter: Asghar Farhadi Cast: Bérénice Béjo, Tahar Rahim, Ali Mosaffa, Pauline Burlet, Elyes Aguis, Jeanne Jestin, Sabrina Ouazani, Babak Karimi, Valeria Cavalli, Eleonora Marino Screened at: Sony, NYC, 8/21/13 Opens: December 20, 2013 If this were one of the abundant numbers of sitcoms about family dysfunction, the moral might be something as vacuous as “Don’t mess with married men.” But “The Past” is a serious drama written and directed by Asghar Farhadi, whose previous entry, “A Separation,” looks closely at a family that must make a [ Read More ]

The post The Past Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Title: The Past Director: Asghar Farhadi Starring: Tahar Rahim, Bérénice Béjo, Ali Mosaffa, Pauline Burlet, Elyes Aguis, Jeanne Jestin, Sabrina Ouazani, Babak Karmi, Valeria Cavalli. ‘The Past’ is Iran’s official selection for the 86th Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was officially selected in 2013 at the Cannes Film Festival, the Telluride Film Festival and the Toronto Film Festival. The female protagonist, Bérénice Béjo won the Best Actress Award in Cannes. Just like in Farhadi’s Oscar-winning ‘A Separation,’ his latest film is a bewitchingly sculpted family melodrama in which the end of a marriage is solely the trigger that leads to old and new crossroads. After four years [ Read More ]

The post The Past Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Sony Pictures Classics has new clips for 2 of its releases in The Past and Tim's Vermeer. The Past is a drama is directed by Asghar Farhadi from the script by Massoumeh Lahidji and Farhadi, and stars Bérénice Bejo, Tahar Rahim, Ali Mosaffa, Pauline Burlet, Elyes Aguis, Jeanne Jestin, Sabrina Ouazani, Babak Karimi and Valeria Cavalli. The Past follows an Iranian man who deserts his French wife and two children to return to his homeland. His wife sparks up a new relationship, the reality of which hits her husband when he receives a request for a divorce.

At this point it looks like I probably won't be attending next year's Cannes Film Festival, which is a bummer, but if there's a silver lining this year's Festival was amazing and one of the best films I saw there and still one of the best of the year is Asghar Farhadi's The Past for which Berenice Bejo won Best Actress in Cannes and Farhadi was awarded the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. I gave the film an "A-" out of Cannes citing a "knockout screenplay" and wonderful performances. Here's a snippet from my review: If there was any doubt Farhadi could continue beyond his work in A Separation, he's set that doubt aside. While I would say the film felt about 20 minutes longer than it actually was and the third act does begin to pile on, you simply can't and don't want to stop watching. The screenplay and performances are so utterly outstanding,...

Among all the national Oscar ® submissions for consideration, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) will nominate 5 on January 16, 2014 to compete for Best Foreign Language Film. One of those five films will receive the Oscar ® for Best Non-English-feature at the Oscar ® Awards March 2, 2014 in the Dolby Theater in Hollywood.

Read more about all the 76 Best Foreign Language Film Submission for the 2014 Academy Awards

At this point (and I have not seen all the films yet), I predict the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar going to The Great Beauty,Child’s Pose or Gloria. Those are three of my four favorites thus far. The Past, while worthy most likely will not repeat Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s Oscar 2011 win for A Separation.

Child’s Pose

I am amazed to see that no Romanian film ever even made it to the 5 Nominations level and yet their films are internationally acclaimed and Child’s Pose carries on the tradition of great filmmaking that Romania has established in recent years. A scathing indictment of the complacent bourgeois nouveau riche classes in Romania, this film leaves no doubt in our mind of how far one can go to protect a really ugly new society. The very strength of the film may make it too “high-brow” for the Academy, although it did award another “high-brow” movie when the Oscar went to Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation in 2011, but at that time, there were political motivations as well for awarding the Oscar to a dissident Iranian. If Child’s Pose does not receive a nomination however, I will attribute that to my aforesaid judgement.

Child’s Pose producer Ada Solomon gave a speech at the Berlinale Awards Ceremony Closing Night where the film won The Golden Bear, which deserves an award itself. Starting with the comment that she is more used to fighting than to winning, she pointedly thanked not only those who helped her but also those who did not help her whose resistance to her making this film made her stronger and more powerful. She pointed out the great need to have equal representation of women in the ranks of directors and producers as well, a theme which has been expressed repeatedly during this festival in many forms. ( Read Melissa Silverstein’s blog on the joint meeting of women's films festivals initiated in Berlin by The International Women's Film Festival Dortmund|Cologone and the Athena Film Festival entitled "You Cannot Be Serious" in which women from many countries discussed the statistics and the status of women directors and other positions in the industry and continued the creation of a worldwide network pushing towards a more level playing field. Check out The International Women's Film Festival Network for more information).

Child's Pose , good in the vein of A Separation, went head to head in Berlin with the Chilean critic's choice, Gloria whose star Paulina Garcia, won the Best Actress Award. Could have gone both ways and so it could again for the Oscar. The two older women were both great.

By the way, Gloria was produced by Fabula , the Chilean company of the Lorrain Brothers who produced Academy Award winner in 2012 No as well as Crystal Fairy by Sebastian Silva.

Jay Weissberg of Variety describes Child's Pose best as a "dissection of monstrous motherly love" and a "razor-sharp jibe at Romania's nouveau riche (the type is hardly confined to one country), a class adept at massaging truths and ensuring that the world steps aside when conflict arises."

Regarding Asghar Farhadi’s The Past, one of my three favorites, it is masterful how Asghar Farhadi can take a simple domestic drama – divorce, remarriage, children, step-parents – and based on one simple miss-step (a white lie in A Separation and a forwarding of emails in The Past), he weaves a surprising and suspenseful web whose strands the audience only unravels after it has fully and seemingly effortlessly played itself out.

When I saw A Separation, the Iranian exoticism initially carried it forward, and it was only at its final note played that I realized a simple lie and a few misstatements caused the greatest grief for the most innocent player of the family’s drama. The daughter was left to suffer from the well-meaning white lies of adults and that was the ensuing tragedy of the film. In this film (The Past), it is the daughter who must bear the responsibility when things get complicated.

The story goes thus: Following a four year separation, Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa) returns to Paris from Tehran, upon his estranged French wife Marie (Bérénice Bejo)'s request, in order to finalize their divorce procedure so she can marry her new boyfriend Samir (Tahar Rahim). During his tense brief stay, Ahmad discovers the conflicting nature of Marie's relationship with her teenage daughter Lucie (Pauline Burlet). Ahmad's efforts to improve this relationship soon unveil a secret from their past, and the highly charged revelations affecting every character in Mr. Farhadi's complex screenplay unfold with his trademark nuance. Once again he showcases his gifts as a masterful storyteller and director who elicits riveting performances from his cast.

The Past, written and directed by Asghar Farhadi and starring Bérénice Bejo, Tahar Rahim and Ali Mosaffa opens in New York and Los Angeles on December 20, 2013. After playing Cannes, it went on to play at Telluride, Toronto and AFI Film Festivals.

Not only did The Past win the Cannes Film Festival Prize for Best Actress (Bérénice Béjo), but Asghar Farhadi’s previous film A Separation won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2011. For that reason alone, I do not think it will win the Award this year even if it makes it to the 5 top nominated films.

41 year-old writer-director Asghar Farhadi graduated with a Master’s Degree in Film Direction from Tehran University in 1998. He had won the Berlin Film Festival' Golden Bear for Best Director for About Elly. The Past is his sixth feature.

Argentinian-born and Paris-based actress Bérénice Béjo was last seen in her Academy nominated role as Peppy Miller in Best Picture Oscar winner The Artist directed by Michel Hazanavicius. Following her César-nominated breakout role in Gérard Jugnot's Most Promising Young Actress, Béjo made her American feature film debut in Brian Helgeland's A Knight's Tale, starring Heath Ledger. Béjo is currently in production on director Michel Hazanavicius' new film, The Search.

One of French cinema's young rising stars, Tahar Rahim is best known to U.S. audiences for his indelible performance in Jacques Audiard's A Prophet, for which he won both Best Actor and Best Male Newcomer Césars, as well as the European Film Award for Best Actor.

See SydneysBuzz Review of The Past .

I won’t reiterate my love for the inspirational and awesome film The Great Beauty because you can read about that in my Interview with Paulo Sorrentino the Director of The Great Beauty and for the fabulously self-affirming Gloria which you can read in my Interview with Sebastian Lelio Director of 'Gloria' and Star Paulina Garcia .

Below you can list of rights sold to all these four great films. Note who are the smart distributors buying these art films so that when you make such a film, you will know who will be watching. And for more rights to more films, buy the Rights Roundup Reports by SydneysBuzz for each great festival and market Here.

The Past

MPAA Rating: Not yet rated | Running time: 130 min.

French and Persian with English subtitles

International sales by Memento sold to

Australia-Madman Entertainment

Canada-Métropole Films Distribution

Canada-Mongrel Media Inc.

Denmark-Angel Films A/S

Finland-Cinema Mondo

France-Canal +

France-Memento Films Distribution

Germany-Camino Filmverleih Gmbh

Hong Kong (China)-Golden Scene Company Limited

Israel-Lev Films (Shani Films)

Italy-Bim Distribuzione

Korea (South)-Cac Entertainment

Netherlands-Cinéart Nl

Norway-Arthaus

Poland-Kino Swiat

Serbia-Soul Food Distribution

Sweden-Folkets Bio

Switzerland-Frenetic Films

Taiwan-Maison Motion, Inc.

Turkey-Mars Production

U.K.-Curzon Film World/ Artificial Eye

U.S. – Spc/ Airlines – Penny Black Media

Child’s Pose

Zeitgeist Films is handling the U.S. theatrical release of Child’s Pose by Calin Peter Netzer. The film will open at Film Forum in New York on February 19, and at the Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles on February 21. A national release will follow.

Golden Bear winner at the 2013 Berlin Film Festival, Calin Peter Netzer’s sharply crafted Child’s Pose pivots on a riveting performance by Luminita Gheorghiu (12:08 East of Bucharest; 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days; Beyond the Hills; The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, the role for which Los Angeles Film Critics Association awarded her the Best Supporting Actress award) as a steely, well-to-do Bucharest architect determined to keep her 30-something deadbeat son out of jail after a deadly car crash.

MPAA Rating: Not yet rated. / Running time: 112 min.

Romanian with English subtitles

International sales by Beta Cinema sold to

Australia - Palace Films

Brazil - Imovision

Denmark - Camera Film A/S

Germany - Beta Cinema

Germany - X Verleih Ag

Greece - Seven Films

Italy - Teodora Film

So. Korea - Mediaday

Mexico - Cinemas Nueva Era

Netherlands - Contact Film

Norway - Film&Kino

Norway - Tour De Force As

Poland - Aurora Films

Poland - Transatlantyk Festival

Portugal - Alambique

Slovak Republic - Film Europe (Sk)

Spain - Golem Distribución

Switzerland - Filmcoopi Zurich Ag

Taiwan - Swallow Wings Films Co.,Ltd.

Turkey - Mor Film

The Great Beauty

140 minutes

Italian with English subtitles

International sales agent Pathe sold to

Australia Palace Films

Brazil Mares Filmes Ltda.

Canada Métropole Films Distribution

Denmark Camera Film A/S

France Canal +

Germany Dcm

Hong Kong Edko Films Ltd

Netherlands Abc - Cinemien

Norway As Fidalgo Film Distribution

Russia A-One Films

Slovak Republic Film Europe (Sk)

Switzerland Pathe Films Ag

U.K. Curzon Film World

Gloria

104 minutes

Spanish with English subtitles

International sales agent Funny Balloons sold to

Australia Rialto Distribution (Australia)

Austria Thimfilm Gmbh

Brazil Imovision

Canada Métropole Films Distribution

Colombia Babilla Cine

France Funny Balloons

Germany Alamode Film

Greece Strada Films

Israel New Cinema Ltd.

Italy Lucky Red

Japan Respect

Korea (South) Pancinema

Netherlands Wild Bunch Benelux

Portugal Alambique

Sweden Atlantic Film Ab

Switzerland Filmcoopi Zurich Ag

Turkey Bir Film

U.K. Network

U.S. Roadside Attractions...

Among all the national Oscar ® submissions for consideration, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) will nominate 5 on January 16, 2014 to compete for Best Foreign Language Film. One of those five films will receive the Oscar ® for Best Non-English-feature at the Oscar ® Awards March 2, 2014 in the Dolby Theater in Hollywood.

At this point (and I have not seen all the films yet), I predict the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar going to The Great Beauty,Child’s Pose or Gloria. Those are three of my four favorites thus far. The Past, while worthy most likely will not repeat Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s Oscar 2011 win for A Separation.

Child’s Pose

I am amazed to see that no Romanian film ever even made it to the 5 Nominations level and yet their films are internationally acclaimed and Child’s Pose carries on the tradition of great filmmaking that Romania has established in recent years. A scathing indictment of the complacent bourgeois nouveau riche classes in Romania, this film leaves no doubt in our mind of how far one can go to protect a really ugly new society. The very strength of the film may make it too “high-brow” for the Academy, although it did award another “high-brow” movie when the Oscar went to Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation in 2011, but at that time, there were political motivations as well for awarding the Oscar to a dissident Iranian. If Child’s Pose does not receive a nomination however, I will attribute that to my aforesaid judgement.

Child’s Pose producer Ada Solomon gave a speech at the Berlinale Awards Ceremony Closing Night where the film won The Golden Bear, which deserves an award itself. Starting with the comment that she is more used to fighting than to winning, she pointedly thanked not only those who helped her but also those who did not help her whose resistance to her making this film made her stronger and more powerful. She pointed out the great need to have equal representation of women in the ranks of directors and producers as well, a theme which has been expressed repeatedly during this festival in many forms. ( Read Melissa Silverstein’s blog on the joint meeting of women's films festivals initiated in Berlin by The International Women's Film Festival Dortmund|Cologone and the Athena Film Festival entitled "You Cannot Be Serious" in which women from many countries discussed the statistics and the status of women directors and other positions in the industry and continued the creation of a worldwide network pushing towards a more level playing field. Check out The International Women's Film Festival Network for more information).

Child's Pose , good in the vein of A Separation, went head to head in Berlin with the Chilean critic's choice, Gloria whose star Paulina Garcia, won the Best Actress Award. Could have gone both ways and so it could again for the Oscar. The two older women were both great.

By the way, Gloria was produced by Fabula , the Chilean company of the Lorrain Brothers who produced Academy Award winner in 2012No as well as Crystal Fairy by Sebastian Silva.

Jay Weissberg of Variety describes Child's Pose best as a "dissection of monstrous motherly love" and a "razor-sharp jibe at Romania's nouveau riche (the type is hardly confined to one country), a class adept at massaging truths and ensuring that the world steps aside when conflict arises."

Regarding Asghar Farhadi’s The Past, one of my three favorites, it is masterful how Asghar Farhadi can take a simple domestic drama – divorce, remarriage, children, step-parents – and based on one simple miss-step (a white lie in A Separation and a forwarding of emails in The Past), he weaves a surprising and suspenseful web whose strands the audience only unravels after it has fully and seemingly effortlessly played itself out.

When I saw A Separation, the Iranian exoticism initially carried it forward, and it was only at its final note played that I realized a simple lie and a few misstatements caused the greatest grief for the most innocent player of the family’s drama. The daughter was left to suffer from the well-meaning white lies of adults and that was the ensuing tragedy of the film. In this film (The Past), it is the daughter who must bear the responsibility when things get complicated.

The story goes thus: Following a four year separation, Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa) returns to Paris from Tehran, upon his estranged French wife Marie (Bérénice Bejo)'s request, in order to finalize their divorce procedure so she can marry her new boyfriend Samir (Tahar Rahim). During his tense brief stay, Ahmad discovers the conflicting nature of Marie's relationship with her teenage daughter Lucie (Pauline Burlet). Ahmad's efforts to improve this relationship soon unveil a secret from their past, and the highly charged revelations affecting every character in Mr. Farhadi's complex screenplay unfold with his trademark nuance. Once again he showcases his gifts as a masterful storyteller and director who elicits riveting performances from his cast.

The Past, written and directed by Asghar Farhadi and starring Bérénice Bejo, Tahar Rahim and Ali Mosaffa opens in New York and Los Angeles on December 20, 2013. After playing Cannes, it went on to play at Telluride, Toronto and AFI Film Festivals.

Not only did The Past win the Cannes Film Festival Prize for Best Actress (Bérénice Béjo), but Asghar Farhadi’s previous film A Separation won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2011. For that reason alone, I do not think it will win the Award this year even if it makes it to the 5 top nominated films.

41 year-old writer-director Asghar Farhadi graduated with a Master’s Degree in Film Direction from Tehran University in 1998. He had won the Berlin Film Festival' Golden Bear for Best Director for About Elly. The Past is his sixth feature.

Argentinian-born and Paris-based actress Bérénice Béjo was last seen in her Academy nominated role as Peppy Miller in Best Picture Oscar winnerThe Artist directed by Michel Hazanavicius. Following her César-nominated breakout role in Gérard Jugnot's Most Promising Young Actress, Béjo made her American feature film debut in Brian Helgeland's A Knight's Tale, starring Heath Ledger. Béjo is currently in production on director Michel Hazanavicius' new film, The Search.

One of French cinema's young rising stars, Tahar Rahim is best known to U.S. audiences for his indelible performance in Jacques Audiard's A Prophet, for which he won both Best Actor and Best Male Newcomer Césars, as well as the European Film Award for Best Actor.

See SydneysBuzz Review of The Past .

I won’t reiterate my love for the inspirational and awesome film A Great Beauty because you can read about that in my Interview with Paulo Sorrentino the Director of The Great Beauty and for the fabulously self-affirming Gloria which you can read in my Interview with Sebastian Lelio Director of 'Gloria' and Star Paulina Garcia .

Below you can list of rights sold to all these four great films. Note who are the smart distributors buying these art films so that when you make such a film, you will know who will be watching. And for more rights to more films, buy the Rights Roundup Reports by SydneysBuzz for each great festival and market Here.

The Past

MPAA Rating: Not yet rated | Running time: 130 min.

French and Persian with English subtitles

International sales by Memento sold to

Australia-Madman Entertainment

Canada-Métropole Films Distribution

Canada-Mongrel Media Inc.

Denmark-Angel Films A/S

Finland-Cinema Mondo

France-Canal +

France-Memento Films Distribution

Germany-Camino Filmverleih Gmbh

Hong Kong (China)-Golden Scene Company Limited

Israel-Lev Films (Shani Films)

Italy-Bim Distribuzione

Korea (South)-Cac Entertainment

Netherlands-Cinéart Nl

Norway-Arthaus

Poland-Kino Swiat

Serbia-Soul Food Distribution

Sweden-Folkets Bio

Switzerland-Frenetic Films

Taiwan-Maison Motion, Inc.

Turkey-Mars Production

U.K.-Curzon Film World/ Artificial Eye

U.S. – Spc/ Airlines – Penny Black Media

Child’s Pose

Zeitgeist Films is handling the U.S. theatrical release of Child’s Pose by Calin Peter Netzer. The film will open at Film Forum in New York on February 19, and at the Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles on February 21. A national release will follow.

Golden Bear winner at the 2013 Berlin Film Festival, Calin Peter Netzer’s sharply crafted Child’s Pose pivots on a riveting performance by Luminita Gheorghiu (12:08 East of Bucharest; 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days; Beyond the Hills; The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, the role for which Los Angeles Film Critics Association awarded her the Best Supporting Actress award) as a steely, well-to-do Bucharest architect determined to keep her 30-something deadbeat son out of jail after a deadly car crash.

MPAA Rating: Not yet rated. / Running time: 112 min.

Romanian with English subtitles

International sales by Beta Cinema sold to

Australia - Palace Films

Brazil - Imovision

Denmark - Camera Film A/S

Germany - Beta Cinema

Germany - X Verleih Ag

Greece - Seven Films

Italy - Teodora Film

So. Korea - Mediaday

Mexico - Cinemas Nueva Era

Netherlands - Contact Film

Norway - Film&Kino

Norway - Tour De Force As

Poland - Aurora Films

Poland - Transatlantyk Festival

Portugal - Alambique

Slovak Republic - Film Europe (Sk)

Spain - Golem Distribución

Switzerland - Filmcoopi Zurich Ag

Taiwan - Swallow Wings Films Co.,Ltd.

Turkey - Mor Film

The Great Beauty

140 minutes

Italian with English subtitles

International sales agent Pathe sold to

Australia Palace Films

Brazil Mares Filmes Ltda.

Canada Métropole Films Distribution

Denmark Camera Film A/S

France Canal +

Germany Dcm

Hong Kong Edko Films Ltd

Netherlands Abc - Cinemien

Norway As Fidalgo Film Distribution

Russia A-One Films

Slovak Republic Film Europe (Sk)

Switzerland Pathe Films Ag

U.K. Curzon Film World

Gloria

104 minutes

Spanish with English subtitles

International sales agent Funny Balloons sold to

Australia Rialto Distribution (Australia)

Austria Thimfilm Gmbh

Brazil Imovision

Canada Métropole Films Distribution

Colombia Babilla Cine

France Funny Balloons

Germany Alamode Film

Greece Strada Films

Israel New Cinema Ltd.

Italy Lucky Red

Japan Respect

Korea (South) Pancinema

Netherlands Wild Bunch Benelux

Portugal Alambique

Sweden Atlantic Film Ab

Switzerland Filmcoopi Zurich Ag

Turkey Bir Film

U.K. Network

U.S. Roadside Attractions...

A second poster has arrived for The Past directed by Asghar Farhadi of A Separation. The drama stars Tahar Rahim, Bérénice Bejo and Ali Mosaffa. The Past (Le passé) follows an Iranian man who deserts his French wife and two children to return to his homeland. His wife sparks up a new relationship, the reality of which hits her husband when he receives a request for a divorce. Also in the cast of the film written by MAssoumeh Lahidji and Farhadi are Pauline Burlet, Elyes Aguis, Jeanne Jestin, Sabrina Ouazani, Babak Karimi and Valeria Cavalli.

Exciting Iranian director Asghar Farhadi of Oscar-winning A Separation (2011) returns with French drama The Past (Le passé) that again touches on the remnants of divorce and its effects on the family. Far from being just an intense and deeply emotional experience – as most French relationship dramas tend to be, this one weaves in a crime mystery for added measure and intrigue, if the stroppy teen and even stroppier mother get too much to bare. Co-writer Farhadi still links the story to his homeland, with Iranian actor Ali Mosaffa in a lead role as Iranian national Ahmad.

Ahmad (Mosaffa) returns to the outskirts of Paris, France to finalise divorce proceedings with his turbulent French wife Marie (The Artist’s Bérénice Bejo) who has not made arrangements for his stay this time as there have been other no-shows. Added to which, Marie asks Ahmad to talk to her estranged teen daughter Lucie...

The American Film Institute (AFI) today announced additional Centerpiece Galas and Special Screenings – comprised of a world premiere, award season contenders and highly anticipated independent and international films of the fall – for AFI Fest 2013 presented by Audi.

There will be a red carpet Gala each night of the festival.

The additional Centerpiece Galas are August: Osage County (Dir John Wells) on Friday, November 8; The Last Emperor 3D (Dir Bernardo Bertolucci) on Sunday, November 10; and the World Premiere of Lone Survivor (Dir Peter Berg) on Tuesday, November 12.

All Galas will be presented in the historic Tcl Chinese Theatre.

August: Osage County

AFI Fest’s Special Screenings are Her (Dir Spike Jonze); The Invisible Woman (Dir Ralph Fiennes); Jodorowsky’S Dune (Dir Frank Pavich); Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom (Dir Justin Chadwick); The Past (Le PASSÉ) (Dir Asghar Farhadi); Philomena (Dir Stephen Frears); and The Unknown Known: The Life And Times...

There was some doubt as to whether or not Iran would submit writer/director Asghar Farhadi's The Past starring Berenice Bejo, Tahar Rahim, Ali Mosaffa and a breakout performance from Pauline Burlet as their official entry into the 2014 Oscar's Foreign Language Feature Film seeing how it was produced, shot and financed in France. As was noted by France 24 (via Deadline), the Fars News Agency (which is considered close to Iranian conservatives) has criticized the decision saying, "Contrary to A Separation, there is nothing Iranian in this film apart from a character who could have come from any other country... It would have been preferable to select a purely Iranian film." I can understand where they are coming from, but I must say I'm happy to see the film among the films considered after France decided to go with Renoir over The Past. I caught the film in Cannes earlier...

Weirdest Cannes best actress win"

Nick whispered to me as the end credits unspooled on Asghar Farhadi's The Past. Co-sign. It's not that Berenice Bejo, who was charming in her international breakthrough in The Artist, is not a good actress and she's certainly a beauty. But at least in the context of The Past she's a blank one. Despite the plethora of information writer/director Asghar Farhadi (A Separation) keeps sending us -- e-mails are an enormous plot point -- I'm still waiting to hear anything substantial about the character of Marie, Bejo's woman at its center.

Yes yes, we learn that she still loves her ex-husband Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa), has troubles with her teenage daughter Lucie (Pauline Burlet, wonderfully cast) and is cagey about her new relationship to Samir (Tahar Rahim). But we learn all of this very quickly in the movies promising opening scenes in which Marie...

Yesterday I posted my final two reviews from the 2013 Cannes Film Festival and I'm ready to put a bow on this year's fest and call it complete. However, not before I say a few thank yous and talk a little about the fest overall. First and foremost, I want to thank the readers and all of those that contributed and helped fund my trip. The above graphic represents the first names of the 83 people that contributed and helped me pay for this year's trip. Without your contributions I could not have gone this year. I am indebted to you and I hope you feel my coverage of the festival warranted your contribution. This article will represent my 75th post specifically related to this year's festival, the first being the February 27 announcement that Steven Spielberg would head this year's jury. And of those 75 posts, 22 were reviews, each of which I've listed...

Returning to Cannes following her international breakthrough performance in 2011's awards juggernaut "The Artist," directed by her husband Michel Hazanavicius, Oscar nominee Bérénice Bejo returned the Croisette this year with another film to sure to return her to the forefront of awards talk -- Asghar Farhadi's follow-up to his Oscar-winning "A Separation," "The Past." Shot over a whopping four months in Paris following two months of intense rehearsals, "The Past," Farhadi's first film shot outside of his native Iran, centers on Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa), who after returning to Paris from Tehran in order to finalize his divorce to Marie (Bejo), discovers all is not well at home with his soon to be ex and her rebellious daughter (Pauline Burlet). In trying to bring the two together, Ahmad uncovers a secret from the past that could threaten to keep the pair at odds for life. Read More: Cannes: Asghar Farhadi...

Taking care of some promotional duties, Berenice Bejoo showed up at a photocall for her new movie “Le Passe” at the 66th Cannes Film Festival today (May 17).

Joiend by Tahar Rahim and Pauline Burlet, the “Artist” actress looked gorgeous in a blue pant suit as she posed for the press outside the Palais des Festivals.

And it sounds like “Le Passe” (French for ‘The Past’) has already received rave reviews, helping it create a major industry buzz.

One critic declared, “It’s an exquisitely sculpted family melodrama in which the end of a marriage is merely the beginning of something else, an indelible tapestry of carefully engineered revelations and deeper human truths.”...

Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa) has made the trip from Iran to Paris for the first time in four years to finally sign divorce papers, officially ending his marriage to Marie (Berenice Bejo) at her request. Upon his arrival at the airport, Marie sees him through a thick pane of glass. She smiles, he shrugs. The airline has lost his bag and will have to send it to him the following day. They communicate by mouthing words and using hand gestures. One understands the other, but the metaphor is quite clear. At this moment in the film we know nothing about these two people. They could be happily married and he returning home from a business trip and she simply picking him up, but writer/director Asghar Farhadi and cinematographer Mahmoud Kalari's visual representation of the invisible barrier between the two weighs heavy on the rest of the film. Farhadi's The...

Heavy, Heavy Hangs: Farhadi’s Latest a (mostly) Worthwhile Endeavor

For his first film made outside his native country, Iranian director Asghar Farhadi unveils his latest exercise in domestic unrest with the French language The Past. Following hot on the heels of his critically acclaimed 2011 film, A Separation, anticipation has been high, and Farhadi nearly succeeds in equaling the compelling portrait of miscommunication and misunderstanding he has so brilliantly wrought in his previous film. Once again beginning with a couple on the verge of severing ties (though this time the separation has calcified into divorce), intertwining character arcs unveil an overly complicated scenario that unfortunately brings us to a finale that seems a bit little too late.

Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa) has returned to Paris from Tehran seemingly to grant his ex-wife Marie’s (Berenice Bejo) request to divorce. While his presence wasn’t necessarily required, it seems they intend on finally ending on good terms,...

Asghar Farhadi's follow-up to the Oscar-winning A Separation is a finely-crafted, sinewy drama that anatomises clotted and complex relationships

The Iranian film-maker Asghar Farhadi has come to Cannes with an absorbing, fascinating if slightly contrived movie, a loss-of-love-triangle starring Bérénice Bejo, Ali Mosaffa and Tahar Rahim. A Frenchwoman, Marie (Bejo), is attempting to resolve difficulties with her Iranian husband, Ahmad (Mosaffa), from whom she has been long separated, and to make a fresh start with a new partner, Samir (Rahim). The film revisits some themes of Asghar's breakthrough film A Separation, about the mortality of love, along with ideas about intimacy and domesticity in a world where the stepfamily is the norm. Here it is further supercharged with a grand tragic theme — the past and its pitiless grip on us. Farhadi shows the desperation and anger involved in trying to defy the past, to annul incorrect life-choices.

It is...

Even before it screened this morning for press at Cannes, Asghar Farhadi's anticipated French-language follow up to his Oscar-winning foreign smash "A Separation" had been touted by many here as a top contender for the Palme d'Or, given the director's track record and a story that calls to mind many of the themes at the center of his international breakthrough. While there's no way of knowing how Steven Spielberg and co. will react to the drama when it premieres tonight, the majority of press in attendance responded very favorably to the film, boding good things to come. Shot over a whopping four months in Paris, as Farhadi revealed during the film's press conference following the screening, "The Past" centers on Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa), who after returning to Paris from Tehran in order to finalize his divorce to Marie ("The Artist" star Berenice Bejo), discovers all is not well at...

"The Past," Asghar Farhadi's first movie produced outside Iran, contains several memorable shots of people looking at each other through glass. Throughout writer-director Farhadi's wrenching, relentlessly intelligent drama, characters shield their feelings with unspoken motives and actions. Like last year's Oscar-winning "A Separation," Farhadi's new movie confirms his unique ability to explore how constant chatter and anguished outbursts obscure the capacity for honest communication. Farhadi's latest effort also resembles "A Separation" in that it's secretly a detective story about relationships only partially understood by their participants. Ahman (Ali Mosaffa) arrives in Paris from his native Iran four years after separating from wife Marie (Bérénice Bejo) in order to finalize their divorce. He finds the family at an uneven crossroads: While Marie plans to marry Samir (Tahar Rahim), Lucie (Pauline Burlet) -- her teen daughter from an earlier marriage -- maintains distance from...

★★★★☆ Asghar Farhadi first burst onto the international scene with his 2011 Silver Bear/Oscar-winner A Separation, the most recent of several astute Iranian dramas. Farhadi returns this year with Palme d'Or nominee The Past (Le passé, 2013), a film equally as riveting as those that came before. This nuanced, complex France-set story unwinds and reveals itself at a measured pace, yet its intensity never lags. Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa) arrives in France to finalise his divorce with soon-to-be ex-wife Marie (The Artist's Bérénice Bejo). However, in his absence Marie has found a new lover in the guise of Samir (Our Children's Tahar Rahim).

Samir carries with him his own life baggage; specifically, a wife who is in a coma after a botched suicide attempt. His small son also lives with him, as do Lea (Jeanne Jestin) and Lucie (Pauline Burlet), Marie's daughters from her marriage to Ahmad. Lucie is particularly troubled by her mother's new relationship,...