3 Faces

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.

Panahi's preference of non-professional performers contribute a great reality atmospehere in fictitous story. Panahi takes us to Azerbaijani-Turk coast of Iran and narrates a real view of desires, demands, expactations, hope and lack of opportunities in provincial life within colourful and peculiar culture of Iran.

The movie is so interesting and realistic! Story about provincial Azerbaijani villagi! As a person fron Baku( republic of Azerbaijan) it was interesting to watch life of azerbaijanis in provincial place! It seems nothing changes there, and story about bull is hilarious! So funny! The end of movie also interesting with song of Sari gelin!

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".

The film works brilliantly within the unity of time, place, and action. There is not a scene, not a dialogue, that is superfluous. The 3 faces of the title are the faces of a wannabe actress, an actress, and a former actress who all struggle against social persecution and ostracism. Panahi's love for the absurd and the ironic keeps the film afloat in an otherwise dark sea of pathos. Saw this film in Kolkata Film Festival 2018.

On its face "Three Faces" refers to the three faces of this movie's three actresses: one young, one middle-aged and one old. In reality, this is director Jafar Panahi's critique of Iranian cinema; the actresses representing Iranian cinema past, Iranian cinema present, and Iranian cinema future. Prior to the Iranian Revolution of 1980, cinema in Iran was very popular. The country had a mature film-making industry that churned out products ranging from adventure films with virile male characters to important art films from internationally-recognized directors such as Abbas Kiarostami. After the Ayatollah took over the country, these films were banned. Some artists managed to flee the country while others stayed and became outcasts like the old actress in this movie. Panahi intentionally never shows us her face, a reminder that Iranians are not permitted to view the films that comprise Iranian cinematic heritage. The old actress lives in a very humble house in a remote part of a very remote village, in the same way that Iranian film history exists, but has been tucked away from view by the mullahs, and stuck into a place unfitting its true stature. There is a very interesting scene in which, from a distance, Panahi sees all three actresses dancing and partying in the house. It is as if he is saying he knows there is a lot of great substance in the historic Iranian films, but he himself cannot enjoy it, given his own present circumstance as an Iranian filmmaker whose films are banned in his own country. The middle-aged actress (played brilliantly by Behnaz Jafari) represents the current state of Iranian cinema, which is to say it is practically nonexistent. In this movie she is a TV actress who stars in cheap soap operas. Early in the film, Panahi describes her as follows: "in her current state she's not much use to anyone, anyway." Ouch. Perhaps the most interesting of the three faces is that of the young actress, who represents Panahi's assessment of the future of Iranian cinema, which turns out not to be traditional cinema at all. This actress stars in a smart phone-produced video that might or might not be staged. The filmmakers of the future, he seems to be saying, will be unconstrained by whether a work might be categorized as fiction or non-fiction, but instead focused on important sociological themes that move people to act. Indeed, a look at present day Iranian Youtube videos reveals works that deal with social upheaval. One example: a woman wears her hijab too low on the bus and films away as a religious zealot spits in her face. These are the most important films coming out of Iran today. Beyond its subtext, this film is very rich in terms of presenting for western viewers a look at a part of the world we rarely get to see. Panahi's portrayal of the people of rural Iran along the Turkish border seems very genuine. He presents them as multifaceted and interesting; we get a good dose of the good, the bad and the ugly in these people. The film is worth seeing for that alone.

«I've always dreamed of being an actress.» It is a road movie basically all about people talking and wandering, with a particular camera focus on Nature and the simplicity of life. In this kind of fashion, it constantly resembles the late Abbas Kiarostami's metafictional style: the director, Panahi, pays homage to his compatriot, elaborating on very similar scenes - note to Taste of Cherry (1997) & Through the Olive Trees (1994) -, camera angles, themes and issues. He also works with non-professional actors, except for Behnaz Jafari and himself, who both play themselves, choosing not to credit his alter ego to another person, in contrast only in this last chapter with what Kiarostami would do. Based in a simple, but effective story, it works as Iran's self-portrait, exposing its religious, oppressive, sexist and misogynist traditions. Saying that, (NOT ONLY) in the movie, there's an urgency about mentioning women's role in Iranian society. The director's sense of humanity is so bright that he tackles this worrying subjects tracing a very thin line between a very fine humour and deep seriousness. Suicide is also a subject, but sadly gets somehow lost on the way. As a social commentary that lies on the plot's outcome to declare a "victory", audiences may not comprehend it at the end or even feel unrewarded, but I assure you: it's all there. Cinema Trindade

First of all I want to share my emotions after the movie (I will not add any words that contain spoilers). This film is just worth to be watched if you want to know what is happening in the lives of people in countries where honor and dignity are above all. Above their desires, their grand dreams, their plans, their lives. How it's difficult for people to live, according to our humble version, in the mountainous settlements of Iran (South Azerbaijan). How hard they have to live when there is not enough help from the townspeople. But despite all this, everything ends at the will of the person himself, whose desires are above honor and dignity.

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.

To the pantheon of road movies we can add Jafar Panahi's "Se rokh" ("3 Faces" in English), about an actress traveling across the country. Panahi plays himself in the movie. It's amazing that he managed to make the movie, as he's currently banned from making movies, due to depicting things that Iran's government finds inappropriate (such as "Offside", in which women try to attend a soccer game but get kept out of the stadium due to the sight of men in shorts). Watching this movie, I got the feeling that life in Iran's hinterlands must be a miserable existence. It's not a great movie, but worth seeing as a look at people whom we don't often see.