The Past (2013)

Hails it as a magnificent achievement and painfully precise disquisition on human messiness, dense with shared history, though noting some bluntness and similarity to A Separation.

The critic praises Farhadi as a great humanist who builds credible characters with complex motivations, highlighting the film's immaculate study of marital disharmony and emotional ripple effects.

Farhadi confirms his place among cinema's true grown-ups with a pressure cooker of a relationship drama that is a tragedy of good intentions and wrong decisions. The critic singles out the film's severity and cerebral force, along with its intricate analysis of the agony of splitting in a loss-of-love triangle.

Delivers another gripping, densely plotted drama of ethics, love and loyalty; confirms Farhadi as superb director of actors, but less resonant than A Separation.

Farhadi has a passion for drama and a gift for realistic depiction of intense emotional situations, making “The Past” quite potent on its own terms as part family melodrama and part intricate interpersonal puzzle. A plot heavy with contrivances works due to the forceful direction and excellent cast, led by a convincing Bérénice Bejo.

Notes the film's complex narrative and strong sense of interior space as a stirring, impressively acted piece that extends Farhadi’s streak, though it strains toward melodrama at times.

Praises the nearly flawless screenplay that explores guilt and responsibility without taking sides, along with strong performances especially from Bérénice Bejo, in a low-key, superbly lensed family drama.

The film is a family melodrama and relationship story about love, loyalty, secrets and how the past haunts the present. Farhadi demonstrates a masterly gift for domestic drama through fluid filmmaking and strong performances, especially Bérénice Bejo’s thorny, layered one.

This is an exquisitely sculpted family melodrama with microscopic attention to character, performance and theme that maintains a powerful, authentically acted portrait of human truths. Farhadi’s sense of narrative construction can be almost too incisive, costing some focus and credibility in the final reels, with one mystery distractingly over-contrived.

Farhadi's follow-up to A Separation moves the story to France but struggles with its plot of divorce and secrets, coming close to perpetuating rational man/hysterical woman stereotypes. Bérénice Bejo's devastating performance as the serial monogamist mother saves the film despite the arthouse trappings and silly late twists.

The critic finds the film disappointing compared to A Separation, with contrived revelations, narrative clumsiness, and less resonance, though it has solid performances and assured mise en scène.

The film is intricate and mature but meandering, heavy-handed, and melodramatic; it lacks the tight control of A Separation and feels disappointing and underwhelming.

Finds the first half absorbing as an evocatively photographed soap opera but criticizes the later sluggish pacing, clunky twists, and imposed sense of hopelessness.

The director’s gift for pulling viewers deep into the story and conveying the burdens of minor lives remains unimpaired, though the Parisian setting feels more familiar and some symbolic choices seem calculated. The tangle of relationships grows knotted and the blend of chaos and gloom can feel hard to endure.

The film is an intense emotional drama about the remnants of divorce and family fallout, woven with a crime mystery element. It praises the claustrophobic family setting, standout performances especially from Bérénice Bejo, and Farhadi's script and direction as awards-contender material.

Farhadi's first French film explores murky family territory with themes of the past gripping the present, through heart-rending confrontations and understated beauty. It singles out Bérénice Bejo's tour de force performance as the woman torn apart from all sides.

The film is a mature, complex and impressive melodrama with an intricately layered script and excellent performances, particularly from Bérénice Bejo. It complains that the third act slightly fumbles by providing too many answers and shifting to a more procedural tone.

The critic finds that Farhadi's excessive plotting distracts from his sharp observations of daily life and domestic relationships. She singles out his concrete depiction of the ebb and flow of imperfect information in family settings for praise.

The critic finds Farhadi's domestic drama compelling in its character web and performances despite flaws in plotting and character motivations. Revelations become overly melodramatic and the central relationship insufficiently convincing.

The film explores the messiness of divorce and relationships transcending cultural boundaries through nuanced performances and subjective truths. It excels in character depth but suffers from overly meticulous pacing and excessive length.