Though small, intimate, and oh so gentle, a streak of rebellion runs through the thin but likeable romantic dramedy My Favourite Cake – a streak that landed its Iranian directors Maryam Moghadam and Behtash Sanaeeha in jail, unable to leave the restrictive country to premiere their own film when it first arrived on the festival circuit back in February in Berlin. A story of love in old age (the sort of old age that, in Iran, means its characters can remember the pre-Revolution years of freedom and fun), it’s a sweet and humanist tale, even if the behind-the-scenes stories pack more of a punch than the film itself.
From start to finish, the film never leaves the side of its heroine Mahin (Lili Farhadpour), a 70 year old retiree who has been widowed for decades, with adult kids who live abroad who she doesn’t see as often as she’d like. It’s a lonely but bearable situation, lifted by calls and visits from her similarly aged pals (one of whom is an amusingly gross hypochondriac), but she hasn’t yet given up looking for more. After an encounter with Iran’s odious ‘Morality Police’ that sees Mahin save a younger woman from arrest, she’s especially revivified, and spontaneously decides to ask out a man she briefly sees at a restaurant.
This is Faramarz (Esmaeel Mehrabi), also 70 but still working as a taxi driver, and it’s their first date – a late-night meal, complete with cake and illegal wine, at Mahin’s home – that makes up the bulk of the story. Moghadam and Sanaeeha give this single night immense room to breathe, which is both a strength and a weakness. We really get to know this pair deeply thanks to effortlessly rich dialogue, the twin lead performances are great, and the low-key tone is tender and relaxing, with plenty of gentle laughs (and one genuinely hilarious moment) sprinkled in.
Yet, it is also all very quiet and static in a way that I found a little testing at times (there’s also a sharp left turn, both in terms of plot and tone, late on in the story that left me pretty unconvinced). It’s an admirably bold gambit to commit so hard to what is essentially a single scene lasting over 45 minutes, and the point it communicates about the easy freedom afforded by the privacy of old age in a country that is otherwise mostly intent on keeping its people frightened is a powerful one.
My Favourite Cake is mostly shot and scored just functionally – though there is a more stylish dance scene that serves as a nice palate cleanser – and lacks the genuine political fireworks of the films of, say, Asghar Farhadi or Mohammad Rasolouf, but there is a strength in its simplicity. Women, especially older women, especially on screen, and even more especially in Iran, are generally relegated to lives lived invisibly, but Moghadam and Sanaeeha shine a light on this one with care and consideration, showing that romance is possible whenever you’re bold enough to chase it – and if you can yell at a self-righteous cop along the way, all the better.
Jack Blackwell – Film Reviews 