Bérénice Bejo in ‘The Past’

The Past, Iranian born filmmaker Asghar Farhadi’s follow-up to his Academy Award winning 2011 film A Separation, has seemingly been around for a while despite the fact that it doesn’t open in the United States until December 20th in limited engagement, courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.  The film premiered in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival to extended pre-release buzz and a healthy critical appraisal, even netting the Best Actress prize at the springtime festival for its leading lady, Bérénice Bejo, the French actress best known for her Oscar-nominated turn in The Artist.

A Separation was a domestic drama about a married couple in the throes of a crisis; the film became an international sensation on the festival circuit in 2011 culminating in a Best Foreign Language Academy Award (the first ever win for the country of Iran and only the second nomination) as well as a surprise Screenplay nomination for Farhadi’s script.  The Past similarly revolves around another domestic crisis as an Iranian man must come to terms with the impending divorce to his French wife (Bejo) and her new boyfriend.  Tahar Rahim (A Prophet) co-stars.  The Past, despite being filmed in France and being partially in the French language will be Iran’s official foreign language film submission for this year’s Academy Awards.

Watch the trailer here: