A Separation (Jodaeiye Nader az Simin), a film by Asghar Farhadi
By: Kiazad Ehya
As the film’s title suggests, director Asghar Farhadi’s film A Separation (Jodaeiye Nader az Simin), is about the separation of a married couple, but the story is actually centered on the complex interpersonal relationships between an upper class secular liberal couple and that of an impoverished religiously devoted Muslim couple. The complexities are deep, and Farhadi tries to not take the side of one family over the other in the film.
“I think A Separation is a detective story without any detectives…The film raises questions instead of imposing ideas and answers,” said Asghar Farhadi, the films director.
The drama in the story arises out of basic human nature. The poor mistakes or choices of a person are not limited to one kind of a person. Everyone is flawed and everyone makes mistakes. Farhadi describes the film — which recently made the Oscar shortlist for best foreign film this year — as a detective story, and the mystery arises from the truthfulness or dishonesty of the main characters. The characters are driven to lie to preserve their innocence to either a judge or to their loved ones, which is an important theme coming from a country where people are constantly forced to lie due to the many restrictions imposed on them by either government or personal morals. There is no good guy or bad guy, the conflict in the film resides in the vulnerability of truth in a place where one needs to lie to protect herself or himself; this is one of the central themes of Farhadi’s film.
A Separation is more conservative in style compared to the internationally popular Iranian films from Abbas Kiarostami or Bahman Ghobadi, and doesn’t have the same art-house appeal, which may help the film attract a larger audience. The film’s pace is driven by the great performances of the cast, and the complex drama of a story that builds and builds, inviting the viewer to search for the truth. Much as Farhadi says, like a detective story.
The film takes place in a bustling contemporary Tehran, with characters coming from different socio-economic backgrounds — a view that movie-goers in the West may find surprising. However, the film is also about universal human experiences and translates well to people worldwide, which is made apparent by the 20-plus awards it won at international festivals around the globe.
A Separation won the Golden Bear for Best Film, Best Actress award, and Best Actor award at the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival, and most recently won the Best Foreign Language Film of the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards.
A Separation will be playing in San Francisco today, Friday, January 20th.
A Separation (Jodaeiye Nader az Simin) by Director Asghar Farhadi. Starring Peyman Moaadi, Leila Hatami, Ali-Asghar Shahbazi, and Sareh Bayat. Drama, 123 minutes, Rated PG-13
