Arguably, René Magritte's most famous painting is Ceci n'est pas une Pipe (1929). The Belgian painter was simply making a statement that the painting itself is not a pipe. It is merely an image. In this documentary of dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi, the film explores the difference between describing a film and the film itself. “This Is Not a Film” promises to test our idea of what form a film can take. Required to play all the roles, Panahi is overcome by emotion and interrupts himself, asking, “If we could tell a film, then why make a film?” The way he sees it, description cannot possibly do justice to the power of cinema. Think of the pipe. Panahi frequently worries that the footage is turning out to be a lie.
Much of the film is shot through an iPhone except where fellow cinematographer Mojtaba Mirtahmasb shoots through a professional camera. Panahi is aware that under house arrest, it is better to let others direct. This film is a courageous act of nonviolent protest. The film was smuggled into France by hiding a flash drive in a cake for a last-minute submission to Cannes. The documentary is a veritable "Message in a Bottle" (The New York Times).
Panahi is under house arrest awaiting the result of appeal of a 6-year prison sentence. On the day of shooting we hear fireworks on the street below from the Chaharshanbe Suri festival, which unsettles the filmmaker. As “This Is Not a Film” unspools, Panahi’s involvement comes to feel more and more like direction in the traditional sense (Peter Debruge, Variety). At first, he is careful to remain the only character on camera, ostensibly a precaution in case others might be punished for colluding with him on the project. Then his pet Iguana, Igi, makes a cameo, followed by a yappy dog belonging to Panahi’s downstairs neighbor, Shima (she remains out of frame). A delivery man hands a bag of food through the door, unaware that he’s guest-starring in Panahi’s non-film. Finally, a friendly college student drops by to collect his trash, temporarily subbing in for the building custodian. Panahi can’t help making an actor out of him, with the lad reminiscing about the day the authorities came to arrest Panahi as the two share an elevator ride together....Standing at his balcony, filming the firecracker revelry with his iPhone, he seems to be saying that directing is more defiant an act than lighting a firecracker or two. Debruge comments: Truth be told, Panahi’s poignant “Film” is infinitely more explosive.
