Chicken with Plums 2012

As a tempestuous storm brews within her, Faranguisse (Maria de Medeiros) unleashes her wrath upon her musician husband Nasser-Ali (Mathieu Amalric), shattering his violin with unbridled fury. This act of destruction sparks a quest in Nasser-Ali to find a new instrument, but as he gazes upon the majestic curves of his newly acquired Stradivarius and attempts to coax sounds from its strings, he confronts the harsh reality that his passion has been extinguished, leaving him with an existential crisis. As the weight of his despair settles in, Nasser-Ali contemplates various paths of self-destruction before ultimately surrendering to fate, choosing instead to surrender to the inevitable and succumb to mortality.

As he lies motionless in bed, Nasser-Ali’s mind wanders through a tapestry of memories from his past and future, with visions of his daughters’ lives unfolding before him like a cinematic reel. His eldest daughter Lili’s tale unfolds as she marries, divorces, and then succumbs to the allure of an actor, only to find herself lost in a haze of addiction after his untimely passing. Meanwhile, her younger brother grows up across the ocean, building a life that includes multiple children and eventually becoming a grandfather when his daughter gives birth to a son named Jimmy-Nassar.

As Faranguisse’s concern for Nasser-Ali finally reaches a boiling point, she prepares his favorite dish of chicken with plums, but it is only upon her revelation that she had long harbored a deep love for Nasser-Ali since childhood that the true nature of their tumultuous relationship becomes clear. Her decision to marry him was motivated by his mother’s (Isabella Rossellini) pressure, rather than any genuine desire on Faranguisse’s part. When Nasser-Ali rejects her attempt to feed him the dish, reiterating his refusal to forgive her for destroying his violin, it becomes apparent that their love has been irreparably damaged.

As the fifth day dawns, Nasser-Ali finds himself still clinging to life, and it is then that he recalls a poignant moment from his childhood when his mother lay dying. He had been praying for her recovery, but she implored him to cease, revealing that his prayers were prolonging her suffering. As her spirit dissipated into a cloud of smoke, Nasser-Ali realizes that his own son is now praying for his salvation.

On the sixth day, as Nasser-Ali’s life force begins to ebb away, he hallucinates an encounter with the angel of death. Though he initially expresses a change of heart and no longer wishes to succumb to mortality, the angel coldly informs him that it is too late, leaving Nasser-Ali to confront the inexorable march of fate.

As Nassar-Ali’s mortal clock winds down, his thoughts are consumed by the enigmatic Irane (Golshifteh Farahani), whose ethereal presence had awakened a profound longing within him. The serendipitous encounter between them occurred when he was still honing his craft on the violin, having been instructed by his wise mentor that while his technique was flawless, it lacked the essential spark of soul. Fate conspired to reunite Nassar-Ali with Irane, whose father owned a quaint clock shop where he would repeatedly damage timepieces just to catch a glimpse of her radiant smile.

As their love blossomed, Nassar-Ali proposed to Irane, and she accepted, only for her father’s stern decree to tear them asunder. With a heavy heart, Irane reluctantly conformed to her parent’s wishes, leaving Nassar-Ali to channel his anguish into an art form that would eventually transform him into a maestro of the violin.

As he embarked on a two-decade odyssey across the globe, sharing his music with the world, Irane’s life unfolded in tandem. She married, bore children, and eventually became a grandmother, her own story entwining itself around the threads of time. And then, as Nassar-Ali returned to his beloved, having accumulated a wealth of experience and wisdom, he found himself reunited with Irane once more – this time alongside her grandson.

Yet, despite the familiarity of their surroundings, the gulf between them had grown, leaving Nassar-Ali to plead for recognition from the woman whose memory still haunted him. Irane’s initial indifference only served to deepen his sorrow, until she finally relented, allowing the floodgates of nostalgia to overwhelm her. As the curtains drew shut on Nassar-Ali’s mortal coil, he slipped away peacefully, surrounded by the whispers of a life well-lived.

In the aftermath of his passing, Irane attended his funeral in secret, her grief and longing mingling with the whispers of the past as she bid farewell to the love that had shaped her destiny.