The Passionate Voice of Jafar Panahi – ‘3 Faces’
I’ve written about him before and I’m doing it again. I love and admire the films of the Iranian director Jafar Panahi. Whatever film from him you are going to see, you know it will be quiet and restrained. At the same time, we meet in every one of his films a defiant, inquisitive, passionate voice on the side of the weak and vulnerable in his society. Even now, restricted since 2010 by a 20-year ban on filmmaking and on travel outside Iran, he continues to find innovative ways to evade the ban and make his voice heard.
Panahi started with films about children. In both The White Balloon (1995) and The Mirror (1997) a young girl is the protagonist, Panahi being well aware of that films about children easiest made it through the censorship. His growing awareness that these young girls would run into impossible limitations when growing up, he shifted to the plight of women in his society. His next three films The Circle (2000), Crimson Gold (2003) and Offside (2006) were banned from being shown in Iran, although they were awarded at film festivals abroad.
Panahi was imprisoned in 2010 and after different court appeals was put in house arrest in 2011. Since then he has made four films that he, for different reasons, claims to be art expressions that do not fall under the ban. That was the very reason why he defiantly called his first one of this period This is not a Film (2011). It was followed by Closed Curtains (2013), Taxi Teheran (2015) and his latest one, 3 Faces (2018).
3 Faces is about three generations of actresses in Iran. The film starts with a cell phone film of a young, budding actress who pleads for help. She is stopped by her family from going to drama school because they consider marriage far more important than her acting dreams. She is desperate and ready to take her life. With this call she tried to reach an established Iranian actress, Behnaz Jafari, and call for her help but did not succeed. When, some days later, Behnaz Jafari finds the message on her cell phone, she decides to go to the girl’s village to find out what has happened to her. She asks Panahi to accompany her and they go together on a road trip to the area in Iran bordering Turkey. There she connects with an older actress from pre-revolution times, who lives there in exile. We never see her face in the film, but we learn about her downfall and reputation.
This blend of documentary and fiction has become one of the ways Panahi speaks out on issues that are close to his heart, as this is not the kind of film he is not allowed to do under his sentence. Although there is such a serious reason for the attempted suicide, the road trip of Panahi and Jafarinever never becomes stressed or feverish. There is time for pastoral views, for meeting local villagers and for learning about their traditions, for existential matters. Perhaps Panahi sees his own role and calling in the same way: to express his concern about humanistic conditions in his country Iran, to express his social critique, but to do so with a humble, serene, yet unremitting voice–the kind of voice so needed in the world today!
Rinus, July 2020
*image posted for non commercial purposes under fair use of copyright material in recommendation of the film
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Rinus, I am so appreciative of the opportunity to grow my awareness of the human situation through these films. Your introductions never fail to inspire me to take advantage of them. Many of the recent films you’ve commented on share a common theme of raising the voices of people on the margins of power. They’re not in the headlines, but these heroic filmmakers tell the stories of real heroes, whose dignity, strength, and aliveness cannot be stamped out.
Thanks Rinus for the recent recommendation. I have only seen “Taxi Teheran” but was engrossed by Panahi’s capacity for creative critique in a controlled and censored environment. The ability to create freedom within a repressive regime is a great gift he gives to Iran and to us all. I look forward to seeing 3 Faces.
Thanks for the recommendation. We had a Spanish film night with friends in several cities meeting by zoom to comment on this wonderful film that gave us much to discuss. It fits with the recent comments on Female Empowerment in the Arab World, as this film gives women a central role in a society that works to limit their freedom and human development. Our discussion brought out many angles on the film, and shows the value of hearing other views on the arts. Someone noticed the significance of generations, others mentioned the difficulties of social rules and norms, and we all enjoyed the calm carefully composed photography. There were moments of consideration also of death, in a way our Western culture avoids. Many interesting details that I had missed in watching the story were highlighted by others, such as the symbolic value of allowing women to walk ahead. I hope other nexus viewers who see the film will add to this discussion.
I should add that having women walk ahead in that part of Iran seemed to be an expression of their freedom to act according to their own will, or at least that is what the film communicated to me.
En español: Esta película nos mostró el papel de la mujer en una sociedad que sigue cohibiendo sus libertades y su desarrollo humano. Diversas mujeres, desde jóvenes hasta mayores, fueron las protagonistas de esta historia, que también versa sobre la superstición, las tradiciones, y la necesidad de romper con el pasado, en ocasiones.
Me desperté esta mañana pensando en uno de las ‘ultimas escenas, cuando Jafar se queda en el coche, reconiciendo que no tiene nada que aportar a la conversación dentro de la casa. Mientras, el padre echa a su hijo — violento hermano mayor de la niña que quiere castigarla por deshonrar a la familia — de la casa para resolver asuntos con ella. Allí fuera, el hijo coge una piedra … muy symbólica… y se sienta a esperar, mirando a Jafar. Éste se da cuenta de que algo tiene que romper, y opta por solucionarlo de una manera indirecta, generosa y no confrontiva.
Para mí, la idea de que algo tenía que romper, atraviesa gran parte de la película, retándonos a encontrar soluciones que no destrozan todo.
I woke up this morning thinking about one of the final scenes, where Jafar remains in the car, realizing he has nothing to contribute to the conversation inside the house. Meanwhile, the girl’s father pushes the son — the violent older brother who wants to punish his sister for dishonoring the family — out of the house, in order to resolve issues with his daughter. The older brother picks up a stone, very symbolic, and sits down to wait, watching Jafar in the car. Realizing that something had to break, Jafar offers a generous, non-confrontational solution …
For me, the idea that ‘something has to break’, runs through much of the film, gently challenging the viewers to attend to the process gently.