BERLIN, Feb 24 â An Iranian love story by a dissident director couple and a chilling Austrian historical horror movie led contenders at the Berlin film festival ahead of awards night Saturday.
Kenyan-Mexican Oscar winner Lupita Nyongâo is the festivalâs first black jury president. She will lead the seven-member panel at the 74th event in choosing among 20 films from around the world vying for the Golden and Silver Bear top prizes.
An international criticsâ poll by Britainâs Screen magazine showed the bittersweet Iranian romance My Favourite Cake and Austriaâs ultraviolent The Devilâs Bath to be the biggest hits in competition.
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The success of My Favourite Cake proved particularly poignant as the duo behind the crowd-pleaser, Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha, were barred by Iranian authorities from travelling to Berlin for the premiere.
The film tells the story of a lonely retired nurse who shares a night of revelry and passion with a fellow pensioner at her home, beyond the prying eyes of the feared morality police.
Moghaddam, 52, told AFP via video link from Tehran that the filmâs crime in the censorsâ eyes was âcrossing so many red lines which have been forbidden in Iran for 45 yearsâ since the Islamic revolution.
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The Guardian hailed the eye-opening movie as âwonderfully sweet and funnyâ, while The Hollywood Reporter said it âcrackles with the valiant, liberational energy of the Woman, Life, Freedom movementâ.
âStaggeringâ Murphy performance
Centuries apart and a world away, The Devilâs Bath depicts depressed young women in 1750s rural Austria who murder to avert the eternal damnation they would incur, according to religious doctrine, for committing suicide.
Some 400 people, most of them women, used this âloopholeâ of Roman Catholic dogma allowing them to confess their crimes and seek absolution before being executed, according to directors Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala.
Lead actress Anja Plaschg, also known as experimental music artist Soap&Skin, turned in a bracing performance in the lead role of Agnes and also composed the haunting score.
Variety called the hard-hitting film, which is based on historical court records, a âbeautiful but staggeringly bleak vision of female depressionâ.
The 11-day festival opened with the latest release starring man-of-the-moment Cillian Murphy, who just picked up Britainâs BAFTA award and is nominated for an Oscar next month for his turn in Oppenheimer.
In Small Things Like These, Murphyâs character uncovers secrets in his village behind one of modern Irelandâs biggest scandals, the âMagdalene laundriesâ network of penitentiary workhouses for âfallenâ women.
US movie website Indiewire called it another âstaggeringâ Murphy performance in a film that is âsurprisingly understated and yet still full of dramatic powerâ.
âExtravagantly crazy storyâ
Critics also swooned over French screen legend Isabelle Huppertâs third outing with South Korean arthouse favourite Hong Sang-soo, A Travellerâs Needs.
Variety said Huppert showed âtypically curt, quizzical good humourâ in the deceptively whimsical fish-out-of-water story, with an âendearingly scatty, offhand performanceâ.
Despite its grim title and subject matter, German tragicomedy Dying made a splash with a three-hour tour de force by some of the countryâs top actors depicting a dysfunctional family.
Lars Eidinger plays an emotionally distant conductor preparing for the debut of a new composition, just as his elderly parents are succumbing to ailments and his ex-girlfriend is giving birth to a child.
The Guardian hailed the âbleak, bold, extravagantly crazy storyâ, featuring âthe biggest conductor meltdown since Cate Blanchettâs âTarââ.
The Berlinale, as the festival is known, ranks with Cannes and Venice among Europeâs top cinema showcases.
Last year, French documentary âOn the Adamantâ about a floating day-care centre for people with psychiatric problems took home the Golden Bear. â AFP