''3 Faces'' ( fa, Se rokh – سه رخ) is a 2018 Iranian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Jafar Panahi Jafar Panâhi ( fa, جعفر پناهی, ; born 11 July 1960) is an Iranian film director, screenwriter, and film editor, commonly associated with the Iranian New Wave film movement. After several years of making short films and working as an ass ...

and starring

Behnaz Jafari Behnaz Jafari ( fa, بهناز جعفری, born in 1975) is an Iranian actress. Biography Behnaz Jafari was born in 1975, Tehran, Iran. She is graduated in dramatic literature from Islamic Azad University. She won the ''Crystal Simorgh for Bes ...

and Panahi as themselves. The film was produced despite a ban on filmmaking imposed on Panahi. It was selected to compete for the

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

at the

2018 Cannes Film Festival The 71st annual Cannes Film Festival was held from 8 to 19 May 2018. Australian actress Cate Blanchett acted as President of the Jury. The Japanese film ''Shoplifters'', directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, won the Palme d'Or. Asghar Farhadi's psycho ...

, winning the award for

Best Screenplay Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporatio ...

Plot

Behnaz Jafari, a popular Iranian actress, searches for a young girl (Marziyeh) in northwestern Iran with her friend Jafar Panahi, a director, after seeing a video of the girl asking for help to leave her conservative family. The film takes the form of a

road movie A road movie is a film genre in which the main characters leave home on a road trip, typically altering the perspective from their everyday lives. Road movies often depict travel in the hinterlands, with the films exploring the theme of alienatio ...

, much of it taking place in and around Panahi's

SUV A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon definitio ...

. Several whimsical encounters take place on the trip, with local characters and traditions. Marziyeh is eventually discovered living, ostracised from the village, with two other aspiring actresses in a tiny house.

Cast

as Herself *

as Himself * Marziyeh Rezaei as 'Marziyeh' * Maedeh Erteghaei * Narges Del Aram

Production

''3 Faces'' was Jafar Panahi's fourth film made under his 20-year filmmaking ban imposed by the government of Iran, after ''

This Is Not a Film ''This Is Not a Film'' ( fa, In film nist - این فیلم نیست) is an Iranian documentary film by Jafar Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb. It was released on 28 September 2011 in France, distributed by Kanibal Films Distribution.Closed Curtain ''Closed Curtain'' ( fa, پرده, italics=yes, ''Pardeh'') is a 2013 Iranian docufiction film by Jafar Panahi and Kambuzia Partovi. It premiered at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival on February 12, 2013 where Panahi won the Silver Bear f ...

'', and ''

Taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice ...

''. It is filmed in a remote Turkish (Azerbaijani) speaking part of Iran where Panahi's parents hail from. Of necessity the filming is often 'rough and ready', including an opening sequence filmed using a hand held mobile phone.

Critical reception

''3 Faces'' has a 78/100 average on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' describes the film as an "absorbing paradox", where Panahi shifts the emphasis onto "a whole underclass of Iranian womanhood" in "what feels like his freest film" and "most elusive" since his film-making ban. The review says the film is a "quietly fierce act of cinematic defiance." The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' described the film as a "multi-generational portrait" with "its quotidian poetry, its deep reserves of mystery and its rich rewards for an open-hearted audience".

Awards and recognition

The film was selected to compete for the

at the

. At Cannes, Panahi and co-writer Nader Saeivar won the award for

. The film also won the Golden Orange at the

Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival The Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival ( tr, Antalya Altın Portakal Film Festivali), known for a few years from 2015 as Antalya International Film Festival, is a film festival, held annually since 1963 in Antalya, and is the second most impor ...

, the Douglas Sirk Award at the

Hamburg Film Festival FILMFEST HAMBURG is an international film festival in Hamburg, the third-largest of its kind in Germany (after Berlin and Munich). It shows national and international feature and documentary films in eleven sections. The range of the program stret ...

, and the Leon Cakoff Prize at the

São Paulo International Film Festival The São Paulo International Film Festival ( pt, Mostra Internacional de Cinema de São Paulo), also known internationally as Mostra, is an annual film festival held in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. A non-profit event, the festival is organized ...

References

External links

* {{GoldenOrangeAwardBestFilm 2018 films 2018 drama films 2010s drama road movies Films about actors Films directed by Jafar Panahi Films shot in Iran Iranian drama films Mobile phone films 2010s Persian-language films Azerbaijani-language films in Iran 2018 multilingual films Iranian multilingual films