Article by Carlotta Profico

Translation by Aurora Monteleone

The Last Act – written and directed by the Iranian filmmaker Paymon Shahbod – starts in the hallways of a hospital in Tehran, where the shoots of a film starring actress Farzaneh (Marjan Ghamari) are underway.

The audience witnesses the creative and production process of a film within a film and, contextually, the evolving relationship between the director, Amiri (Atabak Naderi), the cinematographer, the executive producer, and the lead actress herself.

Having been absent from the screen for a long time, due to her daughter’s illness, the role of the protagonist in the new film by the renowned independent director Amiri is the perfect opportunity for cinema star Farzaneh to make her comeback. The actress is cast to play a mother who has lost track of her daughter, who was given up for adoption after the child’s father was arrested for drug possession.

As the filming progresses and the story unfolds, Farzaneh suddenly receives a phone call informing her of the disappearance of her real daughter. It becomes immediately clear that the director aims to give the audience two narrative lines which, although distinct, travel parallel and eventually converge and intertwine.

In spite of  her conflicts with the director and her grief for the devastating news, the actress decides, with remarkable courage, to continue shooting the film as per her contract and to reflect her real-life anguish into the role of the mother she has been tasked with performing.