Closed Curtain

When the world's most famous banned-from-work film-maker manages to defy the authorities which imposed the ban, and for the second time in the row, one cannot help but admire so much courage and the film in question automatically becomes an event. Unlike his previous documentary/essay 'This is not a film', which was smuggled out of Iran on a USB stick inside a cake, 'Pardé' lists actor/screenwriter Kambozia Partovi as co-director, so technically, Panahi didn't violate the ban; Partovi was, not surprisingly, awarded the Silver Bear for best screenplay.

Naturally there was a lot of anticipation at the Berlinale regarding 'Pardé', and just as naturally quite a few critics were disappointed with the result, which they described as being too cryptic. However, if you know Panahi's works, it will come as no surprise to you that 'Pardé' contains many symbols and metaphors which require much thinking, elaboration, and may be interpreted in contradicting, yet equally relevant ways.

As for the story: an elderly man arrives at a seaside villa and immediately proceeds to cover the windows with black cloth, so that no light can be seen from outside. He then releases a cute little dog from his sports bag... why did he keep it there? I'd humbly ask future reviewers from abstaining to describe the story much further, for this is one of those films which can only be enjoyed when you do not know too much about them.

'Pardé', filmed within three days, is a marvel of psychological film making and easily the most personal film Panahi has ever done. The only film I remember in which a film-maker conveys so much of his interior to the spectator would be Polanski's 'Le Locataire'. Of course, Panahi's film, shot on a shoestring budget inside his own holiday house, cannot compare in terms of visual opulence, but given the modest means at his disposal, it manages to share a surprisingly vast scope of ideas and emotions - if you are familiar with his situation and previous work. If you are not, there's a good chance that you will find this film too opaque.

Pull the curtains, hide yourself, don't open the door, be afraid, you are being watched! A real portrail of a what it is like, when you are imprisoned. Panahi, wisely avoids making the movie overly political, thus letting all of us able to relate. No matter the issue in your life, fear locks you up. And it is fear to blame not the outside world. Sometimes we need an intruder to break us free, so that we can tear the curtains apart. Panahi, in line with the artistic tradition chooses a woman to be the bearer of liberty.

Like the other review on this film's page said, the first half is exquisite. In fact, it changed tones so much that at one point I had to check that I was actually seeing the same film. The performances are fine, no doubt, but there's really something to be said about how the script is structured and ultimately sort of collapses on itself. As seen by my rating here, I don't dislike the film completely. No, it has too much ambition for that, and the first half is fine, but it's extremely disappointing where it goes in its second half and instead just becomes a middling, ho-hum tale that seems to be stalled in no knowing where it really wants to go. What a shame indeed.

I knew from This Is Not A Film that Jafar Panahi is not an ordinary filmmaker. Maybe he was beforehand, but at least now is different. He bends the lines between fiction and documentary in a way I've never seen before, in both artistic and expositional ways. The first 15 minutes of Closed Curtain is some of the most expressionistic filmmaking of the year as co-director Kambuzia Partovi silently closes curtains symbolising the oppressive isolation, physically and mentally, Panahi must feel under house arrest. Unfortunately, the film stumbles in the introduce of drama. There's little believable in the execution of the young criminal couple who disrupt the writer. Then it takes a really interesting turn. The way Panahi manifests the difference between this fictional story and his own pathos is fascinating and crushing. If it didn't have that emotional frustration to it, and recursion that his own writing is being disrupted, then it wouldn't work. Clunkiness in the filmmaking and ambiguity in certain sequences leave it feeling incomplete but Closed Curtain certainly meets This Is Not A Film's match when it comes to unexpected thoughtfulness.

7/10

While the situation Panahi currently is living by, is crazy at least and not worthy of a man of his class (considering his movie about women and soccer/football a few years ago), him trying to make a movie about it (even though he actually isn't allowed to, which in itself does not make any sense) does not entirely succeed. At least that is how I felt about it, but others seem to have found things they liked.

And I hope the rating represents what people feel about the movie and is not just a support for Panahi. I'm pretty sure there are better ways to show that. Although showing this movie at the Berlin Film Festival hopefully did help him rather than brought him into a situation where he might have more to worry about. Whatever the case, the movie starts off with one thing and goes off into another direction. And while the mind can be deceiving like that and it's obviously a metaphor (story-wise and framing wise), this doesn't succeed to pull you in (if you excuse the pun)