My Favorite Cake (2024)
Title / Original Title: My Favorite Cake / Keyke mahboobe man
Language: Persian
Year: 2024
Director(s): Maryam Moghadam & Behtash Sanaeeha
Writer(s): Maryam Moghadam & Behtash Sanaeeha
Date / Place: 22.09.2024 / CKM, Istanbul
Every time I see a film like this one—simple in its production, shot in very few locations, progressing through characters and dialogue—the first question I consider is whether it could work as a play. In this case, although it seems possible, My Favorite Cake is a deeply cinematic experience that utilizes what this medium can provide. It creates an amazing story with great acting and photography in an eye-hurtingly dull setting.
An Image for this film: Staring into the night sky, finding the most uneventful, emptiest part, and zooming in until stars, black holes, pulsars, galaxies appear, and the dark energy that works against the gravity between them is felt. Maybe this comes to mind because there is a beautiful scene where Feramarz (the man) repairs the fixtures outside and brings light to Mahin’s* (the woman) garden, to the part that is alive but inaccessible when obscured by nightfall.
At its heart, it is a very human story of two 70+ year-olds trying to bond after decades of solitude. This attempt at bonding, at coming together, at connecting, seems fueled by feelings of loneliness and desperation, fear of dying alone, and simply the unbearable solitude of existence. The film seems to call on the characters and the audience: Why not? What have you got to lose? Another lonely night? Is their bravery fueled by the desperation of having nothing left to lose? What is different from their 50-year-old selves? Was there a higher potential of finding someone/some job/some city/some life exactly as they wanted? It’s a revolutionary setting of here and now, of carpe diem/noctem. One must note, in terms of subversion, that this sort of man-woman encounter and alcohol consumption is exceptional for Iranian cinema since the Islamic Revolution.
Does Feramarz overreach? Would he be better off without the pressure to perform? Is he trying to jump too many steps at once? A musician, thirsty for wine and life, maybe he represents the Dionysian, while Mahin is the more balanced counterpart, even as she reaches out to a complete stranger. This proves true in the final section of the film, where she does what needs to be done in a very rational and calm manner.
This article is about some of the ideas brought on by this film, but the courtship and bonding between these two people is emotionally engaging—a wide spectrum of feelings with a considerable amount of laughter and warmth.
One final thought - Earlier this year I read Second Chances: Shakespeare and Freud by Stephen Greenblatt (Mostly known for the Swerve) and Adam Phillips (mostly known for psychoanalytical writings that are mostly questions from every possible angle on the given topic) and I enjoyed it. What remained with me the most is a very convincing definition of tragedy which can be summarised as the “absence of second chance(s)” so, even with the ending it has, My Favorite Cake is quite the anti-tragedy, creating a second chance when it appears too late (and too dark) already.
This is probably the best film I’ve seen this year, or even in the last few years.
*Mahin, also from the root “Mah” for “moon.” Men, the main Greek deity in Pisidian and other cultures, is both by name and as a cult a cultural import from the Persian/Avestan Mah. This note is here because I just visited Pisidia Antiochia and the Men Askaenos Temple as the final bit of the St. Paul Trail.
