Rent My Favourite Cake (2024)

Deeply Moving - My Favourite Cake review by griggs

My Favourite Cake is a beautifully made, deeply moving film that captures the joys and heartbreaks of life in Iran and immerses the audience in the characters' experiences. It's warm and funny at times but ultimately leaves a lasting sadness. The film paints a vivid picture of everyday life, allowing the audience to explore loneliness, longing, and the quiet strength of its characters. At its core, Faramarz is more than just a man—he is a symbol of Iran's past. In Persian mythology, Faramarz is a heroic figure, representing courage, honour, and Iran's proud heritage. In the film, he feels like an analogy for the country itself, embodying a fading era where freedom, community, and dignity once flourished. His fate is a heartbreaking reflection of Iran's decline, the erosion of civil society, and the increasing indifference of the state towards its people. The film's exploration of love, loss, and resilience takes on a new urgency in light of the real-world consequences faced by its filmmakers. Directors Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha have been imprisoned by Iranian authorities. Their passports were confiscated when they tried to travel for post-production, and they were interrogated for depicting scenes where the characters drank wine and danced, which were deemed unacceptable by the regime. My Favourite Cake is a brave, tender, and profoundly affecting film that carries weight far beyond the screen.

Off the Meter - My Favourite Cake review by CH

The cake in question does not fill much of this wonderful film but it is pivotal.

The circumstances of the film's making, of its being digitally smuggled from Iran and winning prizes, has been widely publicised - and is unlikely to change its subject, which is the suppression of women there. Not that these ninety minutes are didactic. The plot is simple. Neither a widow nor a taxi driver (a veteran) whom she overhears in a café has known passion in decades. She contrives to have him ferry her to her house, and invites him in (careful of the neighbours' eyes and tongues). To say anymore would spoil it. You might well guess what is in prospect as they talk. Slow, it never drags, but draws the viewer into the teling of lives which have been a case of forever surmounting inherent disappointment.

Let this not be thought the stuff of despair. There is a relish of life, so much so that the cake makes its celebratory appearance.

What else does it herald after the taxi driver takes a shower? Why did he stop at a pharmacy en route? What happens after the credits roll?

Here is a film to keep viewers themselves talking.