3 Faces

Behnaz, a prominent Iranian actress, is distraught when she receives a video-recorded plea from a suicidal young woman whose family have prohibited her from studying acting – in traditional communities, still considered an unseemly and immoral profession for women. Behnaz seeks out her old friend Jafar, and together they travel to the rural northwest (where Panahi’s own parents hail from) in search of the girl. Along the way, the two city dwellers meet friendly and talkative but also very traditional locals, who ground the story in reality with their special linguistic poetry while also steering it towards comedy. Nevertheless, the film never shies away from the fact that this world has no place for a headstrong girl.