Iranian filmmakers Maryam Mogadam and Behtash Sanaeeha’s film MY FAVOURITE CAKE is set in the outskirts of Tehran The film’s first scene shows Mahin, a middle aged woman sleeping in and wearing a face mask. It is late morning and she receives a phone call which has woken her up, which she is angry about. We watch her get up and walk around the flat. One can tell that she is struggling, that her mobility isn’t great.
Next, we see a group of matured aged women gathered together at Mahin for an afternoon. They joke about the ardours of the single life, and the remote chance that they will hook up with a guy. All the woman have been single for a while. Mahin has been single for thirty years. She hasn’t been with a man since her husband died.
Mahin’s daughter, who lives out in town, is in regular contact with her, and tries to keep an eye on her.
We see her lovingly tender her garden. The next events are when she has run in with the morality police, she is more than a bit on the feisty side, and then the film’s major event is when Mahin takes a shine to a man she spoits at a cafe. She senses that he is a good soul.
The cafe manager tells her that Faramarz is a local taxi driver. Mahin organises for him to give her a lift home, and invites him. Could this be the chance for some late life romance for this two lost souls?
Verdict. This is a very fine, exquisitely written, directed and performed film. There’s the fragile world of Mahin and Faramarz, and then there’s the wider worlds of a very nosey neighbourhood, and the government’s oppressive regime which, in particular, is very hard on women, and their ability to live independent, unconstrained lives.
There is one scene, which I can’t go in to details, because it would be a spoiler, that is just glorious. One of my favourite ever film scenes.
And the ending. Oh, the ending…So still…So eloquent.
