The international co-production between Iran, France, Sweden, and Germany had its world premiere on 16 February 2024 at the main competition for the Golden Bear at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival. The filmmakers were issued travel bans during post-production, and prohibited from attending the premiere in Berlin, by the Iranian Government.
Synopsis
70-year-old Mahin has been widowed for 30 years and her two children live abroad. She is living a lonely life in Tehran. But one day, she decides to join her friends for the afternoon tea and finds a new spark in her heart. She meets someone who makes her feel alive again, and the evening brings unpredictable surprises and memories.
The film follows the story of a woman who decides to live out her desires in a country where women's rights are heavily restricted.[1]
Funding and production
The film was among the first six films selected for the first round of the New Dawn scheme[a] after its launch in 2022.[3]
The film, the third by the Iranian writing-directing duo Maryam Moqadam and Behtash Sanaeeha, is a co-production by FilmSazan Javan (Iran), Caractères Productions (France), HOBAB (Sweden) and Watchmen Productions (Germany). It was supported by the Swedish Film Institute, Sveriges Television, New Dawn, ZDF/ARTE, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the World Cinema Fund, the CNC's Aide aux cinemas du monde, the Institut Français, the Île-de-France region, Eurimages and the Berlinale Co-Production Market.[4] It was also supported by the World Cinema Fund.
In September 2023, when Moghaddam and Sanaeeha wanted to travel to Paris for the post-production of the film, their passports were confiscated and they were threatened with criminal charges.[5] This followed a raid on the home of the film's editor by Iranian security forces, during which they seized rushes and other material related to the production. The media saw a connection in these actions to their acclaimed 2020 film Ballad of a White Cow, which encountered the wrath of Iran's strict Islamic government. In December 2023, approximately 30 film organizations, festivals and filmmakers, as well as non-governmental organizations for freedom of expression, wrote an open letter calling on the Iranian authorities to immediately drop all charges against the duo and to lift their travel ban. Signatories included the Berlinale, the International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR) and PEN America.[6]
In January 2024, after its nomination to compete at the 74th Berlinale, the festival again called for freedom of travel and freedom of expression for the directing duo.[7][8]
In December 2024 the directors, forbidden from making movies, working, and travelling, were on trial in Iran, held in Evin prison, for propaganda against the regime, breaking Islamic rules by making a vulgar movie, and spreading prostitution and libertinism.[9]
Release
My Favourite Cake had its world premiere on 16 February 2024, as part of the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, in competition.[10][11][12] The Iranian Government would not permit the directors to attend, so they issued a statement to be read out at the screening by actress Lily Farhadpour, including these words:[13]
We have come to believe that it is no longer possible to tell the story of an Iranian woman while obeying strict laws such as the mandatory hijab. Women for whom the red lines prevent the depiction of their true lives, as full human beings. This time, we decided to cross all of the restrictive red lines, and accept the consequences of our choice to paint a real picture of Iranian women – images that have been banned in Iranian cinema ever since the Islamic Revolution...
My Favourite Cake is a film made in praise of life. This is a story based on the reality of the everyday lives of middle-class women in Iran, a close look at a woman’s solitude as she enters her golden years. A vision of the reality of women’s lives which has not often been told. It is a story that is contrary to the common image of Iranian women, and similar to the life stories of many lonely people on this planet, about savouring the short, sweet moments in life...
Ladies and gentlemen, we proudly dedicate our premiere screening to the honorable and brave women of our country who have moved to the front lines of the fight for social change, who are attempting to tear down the walls of outdated and fossilised beliefs, and who sacrifice their lives to achieve freedom.
The Paris-based sales and production company Totem Films acquired international sales rights to the film before its Berlinale world premiere.[24]
Reception
On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes website, the film has an approval rating of 100% based on 31 reviews, with an average rating of 8.40/10.[25]
Peter Bradshaw reviewing for The Guardian rated the film with 5 stars out of 5 and touching on the topical controversy where Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha, the directors of the film, were prevented from travelling to Berlin to attend their own premiere; he wrote, "As well as everything else, this wonderfully sweet and funny film will contribute to the debate about whether repressive regimes are the nursery of artistic greatness." Bradshaw praised the performance of lead pair and concluded the review terming the film as lovely and wrote, "There is something quietly magnificent in it as moments like these in life are poignantly brief – but many never have them at all.[26]
Jessica Kiang writing in Variety gave positive review and said, "What it lacks in edge, the film certainly makes up for in the quality of its performances...."[27] Leslie Felperin reviewing the film for The Hollywood Reporter dubbed it as "A delicious slice of life.," and opined, "Moghaddam and Sanaeeha and the actors turn this set piece into a whirling dervish of elderly seduction, executed with crack comic timing, precise choreography for both the camera and the characters themselves, and one of the all-time great crash cuts."[28] Serena Seghedoni reviewing at Berlinale in Loud And Clear Reviews awarded 4 stars and wrote, "My Favourite Cake is a story that absolutely needs to be told: the heartwarming, hilarious, sweet, devastating, tragic tale of a woman who one day dares to be free."[29]
RogerEbert.com's Robert Daniels compared the character of Mahin to the lead in the Georgian drama Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry, writing, "each woman is seeking a kind of autumnal relationship, defying their oppressive surroundings before it's too late."[30]
