Autumnal romance blooms in My Favourite Cake, a film about seeking passion in life and being bold enough to act when opportunities arise. The directors are Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha, a duo whose previous work, Ballad of a White Cow, pointed to excessive measures in the Iranian legal system. Their latest has a lighter touch but is just as candid about the effect of authoritarian overreach on ordinary lives––a sentiment made all the more apparent when the directors were banned from attending the Berlinale premiere earlier this year as a result of scenes involving alcohol consumption and a character not wearing a hijab. The story is set in lovely, sun-kissed Tehran, a city that’s given us romantic cinema over the years, though rarely with such opprobrium.
The film’s unlikely lovers, Mahin and Faramarz, are beautifully played by Lili Farhadpour and Esmaeel Mehrabi––two veteran Iranian actors with 70-odd credits between them, together here for just the first time. Farhadpour’s Mahin takes the lead as a woman who decides to break her old routine and effectively goes out on the pull where she meets Faramarz, a lonely cab driver, and they enjoy a charming, romantic evening together. In terms of subgenres, Cake feels plucked from the same lineage that gave us AFI Fest Review: My Favourite Cake Finds an Autumnal Romance Blooming Under Iranian Authoritarianism first appeared on The Film Stage.
