I just came home from seeing the movie, so it's fresh in my mind right now.
the qualities that this movie has: 1. masterfully directed 2. wonderfully written screenplay (the opening, the ending and the exchanged dialogs are all very well- written.very close to reality.no cheesy scenes.believable) 3. amazing performances
Most of the people who watch this movie, already have "A Separation" in their mind and are automatically comparing the two movies the entire time of watching.I kind of was doing the same thing. but I stopped that thought and tried to enjoy this and focus on this movie only.I'm glad I did so.in my opinion, the two movies are different.this one has a different theme and atmosphere and it's romantic at times. there was more tension in "A Separation" and almost all scenes were showing a stressful moment.but this movie has some scenes in between that are calmer.so it might be considered slow by some, which again I think, is because it's being compared with the director's previous work.
I personally think "The past" is a very well-made movie with an interesting story and a must see.I definitely recommend it to all movie lovers.
I give it a 10, cause I can't really think of anything in the film that I was bothered by, or any weaknesses.