A Separation (2011)

Disapointment

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

.......and that moment an actor has the face of someone you know!

The movie and the play of great actors. Especially the game of Ms. Leila Hatami as Simin

If we like to think this movie as a color combination with black and white this movie did not turn out to be gray, just for some reason...I can say this is the best films of Asghar Farhadi by far Only Iranian society that can make a story like thisMake this movie to the list! 'A movies that people should see before they die'

I was six years late to see this movie. I had downloaded this movie about 3 years back and was in my back up drive awaiting a watch. I watched it recently (2017) and I thank myself for making that decision because it opens up new vocabulary of cinema to students like us.The director Asghar Farhadi had seen a visual of a young man washing an old man – most probably his father, and that image stuck Asghar's mind that set the ball rolling to develop a story around it. This was the first Iranian movie to win an Oscar. It appeared in the top 250 films IMDb list and is mentioned in 1000 movies to see before you die.For those who are can't understand Persian I am including spoilers to understand and enjoy the movie better because the dialogues are fast and lengthy and it is difficult to catch them and keep track on first viewing.Simin (Leila Hatami) wants to leave Iran – either her husband Nader (Peyman Moaadi) and their daughter Termeh (Sarina Farhadi – director's real life daughter) come along with her or else she will divorce her husband. But husband can't leave his ailing egging father (Ali-Asghar Shahbazi) who is suffering from Alzheimer's disease.Nader hires a pregnant Razieh (Sareh Bayat) who comes along with her daughter Somayeh (Kimla Hosseni) as a care-taker.An incident happens when Nader pushes care-taker Razieh out of the house on accusation of not properly taking care of his Dad and for robbing money. Razieh undergoes abortion and her husband Hojjat (Shahbad Hosseini) puts a case of murder against Nader.How all these characters interact and accuse each other, and each try to protect relationships, show humanity, and seek justice makes the rest of the movie.Each character has its own convincing persona that we can empathize with. Who is right? Who is wrong? How the events unfold the way they do – whom to blame – it is so beautifully presented with a fluid story telling.The plot is simple but the treatment is complex in terms of the facets of underlying human and cultural nuances popping up every now and then. The actors are top class. There is no music in the movie except the end titles. The movie is shot with hand-held camera. Editing is superb. The dialogues are layered and runs sub-plots that the audience have to weave together. Thus the movie makes the audience part of the proceeding – putting the view in middle of the family as a witness and observer. Superb..!The screenplay the way it unfolds is like a thriller, and lots of questions remain unanswered till the end of the movie but the movie surely leaves a few signs for the viewers to detect the missing clues.As the movie is already 6 years old, I am leaving a few spoilers for filling up the missing clues - that are not shown in the movie...First, the robbing of money accusation is false because Nader's wife Simin might have paid the money to workers who charges her extra for a work. Second, Nader pushing Razieh does not kill the child, but the child is killed a few days earlier when Razieh is hit by a car on the road in an attempt to bring Nader's father home. Third, the end of the movie showing both Nader and Simin wearing black clothes signify that the father is now dead and still they are going for divorce. Fourth, the ending is open – as the daughter's decision of - with whom she will go – father or mother - is not revealed and it is kept for the audience to guess based on what is shown in the movie.This was Director Asghar's fifth movie. Recently in 2017 his movie Salesman again won the Best Foreign Film award at the Oscars - his second Oscar.A movie is a must see for all movie buffs in terms understanding the art of cinema on how to integrate complex cultural pathos and broken human relationships with empathy where we as audience do not find fault with any character.I give it 8 out of 10