Ahmad's bad trip to Paris in "The Past"
If ever there was an anti-love story, "The Past" is it. Ahmad, a sincere and decent man from Iran, travels to Paris to sign the divorce papers for his wife, who plans to marry her new boyfriend Samir, a slightly better looking but more angry version of Ahmad. And if that wasn't convoluted enough, Ahmad meets up with his daughters, the troubled 16-year-old Lucie and, fortunately for him, the pleasant 10-year-old (?) Lea. We learn that they are not his biological daughters but daughters of another man his wife Marie had married in the past. And on top of that, Ahmad meets the son of his wife's fiancée, the manic Fouad, who seems to hate everyone, until they are about to leave.
The actors do a great job and the story, convoluted as it seems, is well handled. The problem is that it's slow. I don't mean that it is slow for an American action film; it makes Ingmar Bergman's movies seem like a bullet train compared to this horse and buggy. Slow is the right pace for this film, but there are too many spaces, too many times where "they have to talk" and a final edit to tighten the film would have helped it immensely. As Ahmad's friend Shahryar says to him about his ties to the past, you have to cut it, cut, cut, cut.
Rating: Rent it.
It's a good film, but there is no need to see it in the theater. However, be careful if you see it with a significant other; the crap might fly.
Peace,
Tex Shelters
If ever there was an anti-love story, "The Past" is it. Ahmad, a sincere and decent man from Iran, travels to Paris to sign the divorce papers for his wife, who plans to marry her new boyfriend Samir, a slightly better looking but more angry version of Ahmad. And if that wasn't convoluted enough, Ahmad meets up with his daughters, the troubled 16-year-old Lucie and, fortunately for him, the pleasant 10-year-old (?) Lea. We learn that they are not his biological daughters but daughters of another man his wife Marie had married in the past. And on top of that, Ahmad meets the son of his wife's fiancée, the manic Fouad, who seems to hate everyone, until they are about to leave.
The actors do a great job and the story, convoluted as it seems, is well handled. The problem is that it's slow. I don't mean that it is slow for an American action film; it makes Ingmar Bergman's movies seem like a bullet train compared to this horse and buggy. Slow is the right pace for this film, but there are too many spaces, too many times where "they have to talk" and a final edit to tighten the film would have helped it immensely. As Ahmad's friend Shahryar says to him about his ties to the past, you have to cut it, cut, cut, cut.
Rating: Rent it.
It's a good film, but there is no need to see it in the theater. However, be careful if you see it with a significant other; the crap might fly.
Peace,
Tex Shelters