3 Faces (2018) opens with footage recorded on a smartphone of a young girl, Marziyeh (Marziyeh Rezaei), who pleads for help from an actor, Behnaz Jafari, to support her dreams of wanting to become an actor herself and studying at a conservatory, all of which is strictly denied by her village in the face of an upcoming marriage. It is then suggested that Marziyeh may have committed suicide, a disturbing implication slightly offset by Marziyeh’s actorly “performance”. What follows is a narrative feature but with Jafari playing herself, an actor on Iranian television recognised by people on the street, and director Jafar Panahi playing himself, travelling to a remote village to find Marziyeh or her body and find out what happened. Without giving it away, what follows is an observational narrative that contains warm moments of humour and a pointed depiction of patriarchal society, which also involves the presence of an older actress from the previous generation of Iranian cinema who lives as a recluse in the village. Having watched a Taste Of Cherry recently, there is a similar tone between Panahi and his mentor, fellow Iranian filmmaker, Abbas Kiarostami, and a similar leisurely approach to incident; in both, we’re just observing someone slowly driving around a mountainous village area. Even though 3 Faces depicts a completely different culture, there’s something that feels very relatable in the way things are filmed and how people interact. Jafari and Panahi are excellent in their understated performances; I found a sense of solace being in their company as they tried their best to help a young girl who wants to act. Panahi made this film while still under a twenty year ban from making movies by the Iranian government (over charges of propaganda against the Iranian government). Thank you to Vidya Rajan who recommended this film as something comforting to watch during lockdown (along with the Cher movie Mermaids, which I still need to catch up with). Available to stream on Kanopy and the Criterion Channel. Recommended.
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