A Separation
A SEPARATION (15)
D: Asghar Farhadi
Sony/Film Iran (Asghar Farhadi)
Iran 2011
123 mins
Drama
W: Asghar Farhadi
DP: Mahmoud Kalari
Ed: Hayedeh Safiyari
Mus: Sattar Oraki
Peyman Moaadi (Nader), Leila Hatami (Simin), Shahab
Hosseini (Hodjat), Sareh Bayat (Razieh)
Iran's first winner of the Foreign Language Film Oscar
presents a story of a wife attempting to divorce her husband in the devoutly religious country. It's far more an educational film as it is entertainment, but it's a difficult film to enjoy in
any respect because of the characters.
Simin wishes to leave the country in light of political
events, but her husband, Nadir, refuses to leave with her as he feels obliged to care for his father, who is suffering from Alzheimer's. Issues also arise regarding the custody of their
daughter and other family-related business.
While I admire Farhadi for presenting people as people,
and having both likeable and unlikeable qualities, the story doesn't really have a good guy.
If the cultural contrast is of interest to the audience,
it will be appreciated, but if you're ambivalent towards Middle Eastern culture then this film will likely be a slog.
6/10
