MOVIE REVIEW : Truth, Illusion Mix in Stylish ‘Last Act’

Varuzh Karim-Masihi’s “The Last Act” (at the Monica 4-Plex), an affectionate and amusing salute to the vintage murder mystery, has it all: an elegant lady-in-distress heroine, scheming relatives, dizzying plot convolutions, a portentous score and a richly atmospheric “old dark house” setting.

The time is the ‘30s, the place a palatial 19th-Century Tehran mansion of decaying magnificence where an aristocratic, middle-aged, once-rich brother (Darioush Arjmand), a frustrated actor and a would-be playwright, and his sister (Nikou Kheradmand) sell off their treasure trove of European antiques in order to survive. The brother’s latest sale, however, is in order to hire a band of strolling players to act out a play he has written especially for his older brother’s bride (Farimah Farjami). The players are to pass themselves off as household servants and thereby aid the brother and sister in their scheme to drive their new sister-in-law to suicide in order to inherit the family home. The leader of the acting troupe (Saeed Poursamini) asks why there’s no last act in the play--and is told, cryptically (of course), that it hasn’t been written.

Is Farjami’s absent husband dead or alive? If he’s dead, did he die of natural causes or was he murdered? Starting with the mystery surrounding his fate, nothing is truly certain, and Karim-Masihi, in an ambitious feature debut, keeps us guessing right up to the climactic moment. This Iranian writer-director-editor knows what he’s doing; his stylish sense of the visual suggests he is as familiar with Alfred Hitchcock as he is Agatha Christie. “The Last Act” is deliberately theatrical in its acting, replete with grand melodramatic flourishes, yet is not overly campy; Karim-Masihi respects his material. There is even something of Shakespearean grandeur in the seedy troupe of traveling players, and Karim-Masihi delights in their capacity to entertain, no matter how hammy they may often be.

In its way, “The Last Act” (Times-rated Mature for complicated storyline), which is an exceptionally handsome and authentic period piece, is a blithe yet poignant consideration of truth and illusion, expressed with the same effortlessness as one of Arjmand’s sophisticated shrugs of his shoulders.

Note: “The Last Act,” which is expected to run a month, is being shown without subtitles until the arrival of a print with English subtitles, due in approximately a week. Those who do not know Farsi should first check with the theater, (310) 394-9741, or, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the Laemmle Theaters office, (310) 478-1041, as to whether the subtitled print has yet arrived.

‘The Last Act’

(‘Parde-Ye Akhar’)

Farimah Farjami: Forough, the bride

Darioush Arjmand: Kamran, her brother-in-law

Nikou Kheradmand: Moulok, her sister-in-law

Jamshid Hashempour: Rokni, the detective

A Cadre Film production. Writer-director-editor Varuzh Karim-Masihi. Producers Majid Modarresi, Mohammad Mehdi Dadgu. Cinematographer Asghar Rafiee Jam. Music Babak Bayat. Set designer Hassan Farsi. Sound Parviz Abnar. Running time: 1 hour, 53 minutes. In Farsi.

Times-rated Mature (complicated story line).