With this film, Mitra Farahani has created a complex and masterful cinematographic work, in which the exposed canvas is always awaiting a creative gesture executed with playful and inventive liberty. Farahani also—quite judiciously—leaves enough space to Bahman Mohassess so that he can participate in the creative construction of the work. We witness the many facets of a talented and fascinating artist whose speech is often tinged with ironic and bittersweet humour, at times biting and politically charged, at others insouciant to the point of offense. Far from a run-of-the-mill portrait, this artistic and significant film builds on itself with layers and surprises, succeeding in paying powerful homage to this exiled painter.

RIDM Programming Collective