A Separation Movie

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.