Written and directed by Asghar Farhadi, A
Separation is a 2011 Iranian drama starring Leila Hatami, Peyman Moaadi,
Shahab Hosseini, Sareh Bayat and Sarina Farhadi.
Simin (Hatami)
wants to leave Iran to give her daughter (Farhadi) a shot at a better
future. Her husband Nader (Moaadi) initially agrees but changes his mind
as he feels he cannot leave his father, who suffers from Alzheimer's,
behind. This causes Simin to file for a divorce but when the family
court denies her request she moves back
with her parents. Meanwhile, Nader hires a young religious woman named
Razieh (Bayat) to take care of his father when he's at work. The
pregnant Razieh, however, has not sought permission from her husband
(Hosseini) to accept the job and also finds the work more demanding than
expected. And when Nader returns home one day to find his father
unconscious and tied up, the situation gets out of hand with serious
repercussions for all involved.
A family drama about a relationship breaking down with some mystery and
tension thrown in, A Separation features a complex and multi-layered
screenplay and masterful direction by Asghar Farhadi, who manages to
make the most of his talented ensemble cast. The naturalistic family
drama manages to function as a microcosm to explore complex moral and
social issues in modern Iran and Farhadi gives each of his characters
understandable motivations thereby denying the viewer any easy answers.
The cinematography greatly adds to the film's realism whilst the editing
keeps things snappy at all times. A Separation won Best Foreign
Language Film at both the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes, Best
Film, Director, Screenwriter and Editing at the Asian Film Awards,
Golden Berlin Bear and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the Berlin
International Film Festival, where it also snapped up the Silver Bear
for Best Actress and Actor, and a whole slate of other awards, many for
Best Film, at many other festivals, award ceremonies and critics'
circles worldwide. Possibly the crowning achievement of Asghar Farhadi
extremely impressive filmography so far.
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