3 Faces

Released Mar 8, 2019

1h 40m

Drama

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98%

105 Reviews

Tomatometer

71%

50+ Ratings

Audience Score

Actress Behnaz Jafari is distraught when she comes across a young girl's video plea for help after her family prevents her from taking up her studies at the Tehran drama conservatory. Behnaz abandons her shoot and turns to filmmaker Jafar Panahi to help with the young girl's troubles. They travel by car to the rural Northwest, where they have amusing encounters with the charming and generous folk of the girl's mountain village. But Behnaz and Jafar also discover that old traditions die hard.

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Critics Consensus

Observational, insightful, and ultimately powerful, 3 Faces adds another quietly thought-provoking chapter to writer-director Jafar Panahi's filmography.

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Audience Member

I just couldn't get into this film. I finally turned it off about halfway through after it seemed like nothing ever happened. It was interesting to see the main characters navigate the Turkish-speaking areas of northwestern Iran, but that wasn't enough to keep me interested.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/14/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Love the car as viewpoint, at one point the reflection of the mountainside bush in the half rolled up window. Beautiful color palette in mountainous villages of Iran: tan, gold, blue. Loved the billowing wraps the women wore. Great moments of tension and relief: the initial scene, 3 men approaching the car at night, hulking brother with a large stone in his hands. One could say the entire movie was a relief. Wonderful scenes of village hospitality, customs, and life, "They're doing something there," unique images--the lighted eternal abode for instance.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/15/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A very gentle, slow moving, observational story that has an intriguing premise. The movie is more about the cultural aspects of the people that the main characters interact with on their journey to helping the young girl who triggers the journey. The acting is calm and understated and it is photographed almost as if we are just there watching as the events unfold. Behnaz Jafari is actually a famous actress in Iran and Jafar Panahi is an actual director who has was banned from making movies for 20 years in Iran due to a number of controversial films he made (controversial for Iran, I assume). The movie is filmed in a remote part of Iran that his parents come from. The movie won Best Screenplay at Cannes in 2018. If you are happy to be patient with a movie that moves along slowly and subtlety, it's worth a look.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

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Audience Member

Slow journey through the tradition and customs of the Iranian countryside, with various commentary on differences and history.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

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dave d

Jafar Panahi co-wrote, directed and stars as himself in '3 Faces', an Iranian film that worked for me until the third act. I watched this with wife on a Hubby Wife Date Night and she felt the same way which makes this review much easier to construct. It's beautiful and the story is alluring, but once the reveal happens we're not left with much more. The problem is there's another 40 minutes of movie and what was once a cohesive and hypnotically beautiful film, becomes a slog. Perhaps the final act will work for you, but for us not so much! Hubby 6.6/Wife 6.0 Average Final Score: 6.3/10

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Quizá para los que vivimos en tercer mundo no impacta mucho y puede resultar aburrida ya que no es nada muy nuevo. La historia es interesante y, desde su sencillez, esta bien narrada, pero a la final no resulta cautivante.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/24/23

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Jafar Panahi

Director

Behnaz Jafari

Self

Jafar Panahi

Self

Marziyeh Rezaei

Self

Maedeh Erteghaei

Self

Narges Delaram

Marziyeh's Mother

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3 Faces: Trailer 1

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David Stratton

The Australian

...more than anything it's great to see the work of a doggedly determined filmmaker who refuses to buckle to the demands of his country's hard right.

Rated: 3/5

May 3, 2019

Full Review

Sandra Hall

Sydney Morning Herald

A revelatory meander through Iran's remote villages, with every detour throwing a sidelight on customs and habits shaping everyday life.

Rated: 4/5

May 1, 2019

Full Review

Ben Sachs

Chicago Reader

This is another example of how Panahi, under the guise of looking inward, is really using cinema to celebrate his connection to others.

Rated: 3/4

Apr 18, 2019

Full Review

Pradeep Menon

Firstpost

The film is gentle and frantic all at once, showing you how repressive rural life can be, particularly for a woman who claims even a modicum of independence.

Oct 17, 2023

Full Review

Yasser Medina

Cinefilia

Panahi returns to its docufiction roots to detail an on-the-road social critique of the freedoms of Iranian women suppressed by the regime. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 7/10

Oct 15, 2023

Full Review

Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

This is a road movie and it spends much of the running time meandering through rural villages with Jafari and Panahi... meeting local citizens, and learning a little of the culture of their rural lives....

Sep 9, 2023

Full Review

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Synopsis

Actress Behnaz Jafari is distraught when she comes across a young girl's video plea for help after her family prevents her from taking up her studies at the Tehran drama conservatory. Behnaz abandons her shoot and turns to filmmaker Jafar Panahi to help with the young girl's troubles. They travel by car to the rural Northwest, where they have amusing encounters with the charming and generous folk of the girl's mountain village. But Behnaz and Jafar also discover that old traditions die hard.

Director: Jafar Panahi
Producer: Nader Saeivar
Screenwriter: Jafar Panahi, Nader Saeivar
Distributor: Kino Lorber
Production Co: Jafar Panahi Film Productions, Eyesteelfilm, Celluloid Dreams
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Persian
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 8, 2019, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 14, 2019
Box Office (Gross USA): $71.6K
Runtime: 1h 40m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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