My Favourite Cake

IRAN, 2024.

Available on streaming platforms. 

Co-directed by Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha, My Favourite Cake (کیک محبوب من) is an apparently simple tale that hits you with strong waves of emotion, quite unexpectedly, at various points. It’s a reflection on ageing, solitude, freedom, love and above all the overwhelming human desire to connect, to seek a life companion and witness to one’s journey.

The protagonist is Mahin (Lili Farhadpour), a 70 year old widow living alone in Tehran. She leads an uneventful life doing little more than run domestic errands. Her monotony is only alleviated by occasional calls with her daughter, who lives abroad, and infrequent meet-ups with her group of friends. It is on such an occasion, while hosting an afternoon tea at her house, that a few lighthearted conversations ignite something within Mahin. Stuck in monotony and solitude, she begins to wonder whether a change in her attitude might not improve her current situation, or even transform her life altogether. She begins to approach daily tasks with a new, bolder mindset until a chance meeting with taxi driver Faramarz (Esmaeel Mehrabi) injects her life with new hope. 

What ensues is a joyful, child-like relationship made all the more fervent due to its having been so long awaited. Just like two children who cannot wait a single moment to play their favourite games with a newly elected best friend, the protagonists excitedly open up to one another. There is poignancy in the innocence of their exchanges and beauty in the fearlessness with which they express their admiration for the other. Their eagerness, fuelled by years of repression, is further intensified by a keen awareness of their advanced years. 

In the background, a sociopolitical commentary on the regime is expressed through various details and many casual remarks. This aspect is sewn into the storyline organically: political matters inform the characters’ choices without being central to their emotional world, they are spoken clearly without taking over the film’s message or veering its trajectory. 

Sadly, directors Moghaddam and Sanaeeha are currently involved in a legal case as they received suspended jail sentences and fines for defying the government’s strict censorship rules. The case will likely reach the Supreme Court. In the meantime they are banned from filmmaking and travelling. 

All the more commendable for having been created in such unfavourable circumstances, My Favourite Cake is a beautifully interpreted, bittersweet meditation on the ephemeral nature of joy that will likely stay with you long after watching.