My Favourite Cake

Its modern-day Iran and Mahin (Lily Farhadpour) has little to do in her retirement than get up late, subject to call from one of her friends. Her day then consists of watering her garden, going to the market and watching TV soaps. Its crushingly boring, and lonely.

There are gatherings with her friends, all widows, where they can let off steam about everything from dead hubbies to their medical problems and back to men albeit today's.

Occasionally there’s a break in the routine. Unpleasantly its intervening in the arrest of a young woman by the morality police endangering herself.

Later on, in a restaurant eavesdropping on diners, elderly men though talking about going on strike, Mahin becomes intrigued by on another man’s comments to others. A taxi driver called Faramarz (Esmail Mehrabi), he too is lonely and she finds something in their exchanges that attracts her to the point that she seeks out the cab firm and arranges for him to take her home.

This then becomes a remarkable sequence of writing, directing, and acting of the highest order. It’s a long sequence that starts with Mahin and Faramarz getting aquatinted in the cab. Mahin inviting him home where the conversation continues fuelled by illicit wine, music, and dance. The danger is palpable if aware that as the elder generation they have some leeway but dare not push it too far.

Writers and directors Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha do take explicit pops at the current Irany regime. But they also use the experiences of two people who were around before the revolution to add some subtle perspectives to posit the differences between now and then.

But politics aren’t the only issue here. The broader social matter of loneliness amongst the elderly community in an increasingly ageing population, should resonate with viewers too, and beyond Iran.

It’s so beautifully written and acted that there’s no hint of hectoring. These are two elderly people with different life experiences reminiscing and talking, as people do.

It’s a delight to watch leading to a profoundly moving ending albeit unsettling as well positing a number of questions.

My Favourite Cake will be in cinemas from 13 September 2024.