My Favourite Cake
Imagine Before Sunset but with lonely pensioners in Tehran and you've got a hint of what to expect in this gentle, patient film
My Favourite Cake is a measured, textured window into the life of 70-year-old widow Mahin, (Lily Farhadpour) as she gently pursues the affections of Faramarz (Esmail Mehrabi), a taxi driver of similar vintage, in Tehran. This is a tender drama imbued with the mundanity of Mahin’s existence, peppered by the brightness of meals with friends and snatched phone calls with her children.
A conversation with fellow widowers prompts Mahin to reassess her resignation to being an ‘old lady’ and consider the possibility of opening herself up to life beyond her front door. In doing so, society challenges her quest for pleasure. An encounter with Tehran’s ‘Morality Police’, and the enforcement of their values by her interfering neighbours, are the looming backdrop as she explores a new way of living. Yet Mahin’s defiance against these norms creates a bubble of resistance around her search for joy. After spotting Faramarz in a pensioner’s restaurant, Mahin invites him to her home for a night of companionship. Between eating, drinking illicit wine and dancing, both shimmer with yearning as they begin to embody themselves.
Mahin’s gentle hope is the heartbeat of this patient film. She repeats the question "Where are you?", an expression of protracted longing and the myriad ways this can be restricted by outside forces – a fact highlighted by the film’s tragic final scenes. Despite the shared language these lonely souls create within one evening, My Favourite Cake is keenly aware of the world beyond this one small home.
Released 13 Sep by Curzon; certificate 12A