Set against the backdrop of a country with strict rules and restrictions, a 70-year-old widow seeks to revive her love life. A chance encounter leads to an unforgettable evening. A film by Maryam Moghadam (مریم مقدم) & Behtash Sanaeeha (بهتاش صناعیها), starring Lili Farhadpour (لیلی فرهادپور) and Esmaeil Mehrabi (اسماعیل محرابی).
MY FAVOURITE CAKE
کیک محبوب من
Maryam Moghadam • Behtash Sanaeeha
(2024)
Thirty years after losing her husband in a car accident on the road to Isfahan, Mahin (Lili Farhadpour) continues to live alone in her home. Her two children left Iran 20 years ago, and since then, she’s filled her days with mundane chores — taking care of the house and watering plants. She usually wakes up around noon, struggling with insomnia that keeps her awake until the early morning hours. When her friend calls to check on her, Mahin becomes upset, having specifically asked not to be called in the morning — even though it’s almost noon by then.
Later, Mahin visits the local market to buy groceries and ingredients for tomorrow’s gathering at her home. She’s excited to see her old friends, who all live quite far away. They used to get together monthly, but as they’ve grown older and more weary, their reunions have dwindled to just once a year.
She calls her regular taxi driver to take her home, as buses don’t service her area and she doesn’t know how to use ride-hailing apps. Though it means a long wait while he finishes dropping off other passengers, she patiently sits by the fountain in the market.
During the gathering at Mahin’s home, her friend Puran (Mansoureh Ilkhani) once again tries to encourage her to find a companion rather than living alone. However, another friend quickly interjects, arguing that men are more trouble than they’re worth — he’d just sit around giving orders while Mahin would end up cooking, cleaning, and eventually nursing him through illness. After all, she points out, Mahin was a nurse for 30 years and has done enough caretaking for one lifetime.
That evening, Mahin video calls her daughter who lives abroad to share news about the gathering and show off the blood-pressure monitor her friends gifted her. Though Mahin has so much to tell her daughter, she can sense her daughter’s distraction as she struggles with Sina, Mahin’s grandson, who’s refusing to brush his teeth. Just as Mahin tries to show the blanket she made for Sina, her daughter abruptly ends the call.
The next day, Mahin sits alone in the park until she hears a woman screaming. Following the sound, she discovers Morality Police (Mehdi Pilehvari) and his crew attempting to detain a young woman (Melika Pazouki) for improperly wearing her headscarf. Mahin steps in, engaging in a heated argument with the Morality Police. Eventually, the Morality Police decide not to bother with Mahin and leave without arresting the young woman.
At the pensioner’s restaurant, Mahin spots an elderly man, Faramarz (Esmaeil Mehrabi), eating alone. She overhears his friends at the table next to him inviting him to join them. However, Faramarz declines their invitation, explaining that he is almost finished and needs to get back to the taxi stand where he works. Mahin also learns that Faramarz has no wife when he tells his friends that he has no choice but to eat at this restaurant, unlike them, who all have wives and homecooked meals.
Pensioner’s restaurant is an establishment that cater specifically to retired individuals, often offering affordable meals to help them cope with rising living costs. As inflation in Iran has surged, with food prices reportedly rising by 80% within a year, many retirees are struggling to afford basic necessities. This economic strain has led to protests among pensioners demanding better pensions and living conditions. In response to these challenges, some restaurants may offer discounted meals or special menus aimed at supporting the elderly population, providing them with a place to gather and enjoy meals at a lower cost.
After Faramarz leaves, Mahin approaches the restaurant’s cashier (Saeed Lashgarou) to ask if he knows the man who just left. The cashier tells her that Faramarz is a taxi driver working at a stand on the street around the corner. Mahin then goes to the taxi stand to find Faramarz, a retired army veteran, only to learn that he is out taking a passenger downtown.
Although the taxi manager informs her that Faramarz should be back soon, he doesn’t return until nightfall. After a long wait outside the taxi stand, Mahin finally meets him and requests that he drive her home. Initially, Faramarz offers to have one of the other drivers take her home since it’s not his turn, but Mahin insists that he be the one to drive her.
During the trip home, Mahin learns that Faramarz lives alone and was a soldier when the revolution started. He was injured and left with shrapnel after spending three months in the hospital, and he decided to retire after that. Mahin reveals that she was a nurse during the war, alongside her late husband, who worked at the military hospital. She then invites Faramarz to come to her home, mentioning that she also lives alone.
Upon arriving at her home, Mahin instructs Faramarz to drop her off and park his car one street over. She explains that her neighbors are very nosy, and if they see the car parked out front, both she and Faramarz could get into trouble. After parking his car, Faramarz follows Mahin into her home, where they continue their conversation and enjoy a surprisingly lovely evening together. They drink wine in the garden and dance to Fereydoun Farrokhzad’s “Daro Va Nemikonam.”
In Iran, it is illegal for unmarried couples to live together or spend the night in the same residence. Islamic law prohibits such arrangements, viewing them as inconsistent with societal norms and values that prioritize modesty and the sanctity of marriage. Despite legal restrictions, many young couples in urban areas have begun to live together informally, often referred to as “white marriages.” Although this practice is becoming more common, it remains socially controversial and is met with disapproval from conservative elements within society. While police may not actively pursue all cases of cohabitation among unmarried couples, they do maintain a watchful eye on such relationships.
Written and directed by Iranian filmmakers Maryam Moghadam and Behtash Sanaeeha, MY FAVOURITE CAKE is a romantic tragicomedy centers around a seventy-year-old widow who has been in solitary since her husband’s death 30 years ago.
The film spends nearly 30 minutes establishing the protagonist’s background and explaining how she comes to live alone. It also provides a glimpse into the daily struggles faced by women in Iran, who are required to wear a hijab that covers their hair and neck in public, as well as loose-fitting garments that cover their arms and legs.
Recent legislation has introduced severe penalties for women who do not comply with the dress code. Violators may face fines that have increased significantly, along with longer prison sentences — up to 10 years for repeated offenses. The Iranian government has launched various campaigns aimed at enforcing these laws more aggressively, often referred to as “Noor” campaigns. These initiatives have led to widespread arrests and heightened scrutiny of women’s attire in public spaces.
Both Lili Farhadpour and Esmaeil Mehrabi deliver memorable performances that make the narrative feel natural and beautifully intimate. The scene where they sit fully clothed under the shower is both lovely and impactful.
While they share lovely conversations and laughter in the garden or dance together in the house, I can’t help but feel a sense of unease, as if something bad is about to happen — whether it’s Mahin’s nosy neighbor reporting her suspicious behavior to the police or one of them suddenly collapses and dies.
When death does arrive, it unfolds in a dark and quiet scene that turns Mahin’s world upside down. She finds herself in a terrifying situation, unable to call the authorities because it is illegal to have an unmarried man in her house — especially one who is dead. For a moment, I thought Mahin might be able to revive him, given her background as a nurse, but this film isn’t the kind where the destined couple lives happily ever after. The real world is simply brutal.
MY FAVOURITE CAKE premiered at Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin on 16 February 2024 where it won the FIPRESCI Prize. The film was theatrically released in Germany on 11 July 2024 and is scheduled to be released in France on 5 February 2025.
Established in 1930, FIPRESCI is an international organization comprising professional film critics and journalists from over 50 countries, aimed at promoting film culture and safeguarding the interests of its members. The FIPRESCI Prize, awarded by the Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique (FIPRESCI), is a prestigious accolade that recognizes outstanding films and filmmakers who contribute significantly to the art of cinema.
