3 Faces (2018)

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3 Faces (2018) – J. Panahi

On the surface, this is a typically casual and unassuming “film” from Iranian director Jafar Panahi, similar to the others shot during his 20-year ban from filmmaking. Accompanied by actress Behnaz Jafari, he drives from Tehran to the northwest of the country to a small village near the borders of Azerbaijan and Turkey. They are looking for a girl who sent a short video clip purportedly showing her own suicide (because her parents would not let her accept an offer from a famous acting conservatory). It takes a while to get there and then they cannot find the girl.  The locals are friendly and generous and awed by Jafari’s presence (she is popular on TV) but they speak negatively of the missing girl, calling her empty-headed. They also speak negatively of another “entertainer”, an actress from before the Revolution, who was banished and lives alone and poor in the village. Under the surface, and upon further reflection, it seems clear that Panahi is using this opportunity to shine a light on the troubling treatment of women in Iran and to note how the “traditions” (religious and cultural) in regional areas are blocking progress (just as the single-lane road in the village stops all traffic). As usual with Panahi, there are a lot of playful jokes here (for example, we never see the third “face” of the title), including a lot of offscreen action/sound.  The film also serves as an homage to Panahi’s esteemed colleague Abbas Kiarostami (who died in 2016) – all those shots inside the travelling car, journeys up and down hills, the young child who leads them to the girl’s house, etc. Both also shared the skill of expertly blending fiction and reality such that it becomes hard (or pleasurable) to figure out which is which.