There are no spoilers in this review.
PLOT: A married couple are faced with a difficult decision - to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's.
THE GOOD: Story. After the first five minutes of the film, you will not be able to choose a side in A Separation. The dilemma is that Simin wants to leave Iran so that their daughter, Termeh, can go to a good school, receive a good education, and have a better life. Nader wants to stay home and take care of his father who suffers from Alzheimer's Disease. Simin asks, "Does he know that you are his son?" Nader responds, "I know that he is my father!" This is the reason that Simon files for divorce; to move away with her daughter, but the court says that Nader has a right to say that the girl stays in the country. You can see both sides of the argument because they're both valid. This is what's so gripping about the movie. Things eventually go from bad to worse and it's in themes of truth, empathy, and human behavior that carry this film's intriguing premise. Unless you can't stand foreign films, you will not be able to stop watching. And since these last couple years seemed to be all about the ambiguous endings (Martha Marcy May Marlene, Take Shelter, Like Crazy, Meek's Cutoff, Inception), this movie will still have you thinking well after it cuts to black.
This is what divorce looks like in Iran. Weird, huh?
Asghar Farhadi. Writer and director Asghar Farhadi not only raises some good questions about morality, but brings today's Iran to the screen for the world to see. This is storytelling at its finest. Quite simple really, yet far more engaging than most other films from 2011. With a production budget of $500,000, Farhadi's film was the first ever film to win three Bears from the Berlin International Film Festival. It also recently won Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globes and is up for two Oscars at the Academy Awards this year. One for Best Foreign Language Film, and another for Farhadi's original screenplay.
Acting. All of the acting in the film is so convincing that I swore at times this was a documentary since there was also a lot of handheld camera techniques.
I know I'm going to disappoint a lot of you, but this movie is not about Katy Perry and Russell Brand. Sorry.
THE BAD: Nothing.
THE END: Roger Ebert named A Separation his favorite movie of 2011, Rotten Tomatoes has it at a 99% rating, and it's the best-reviewed film of the year. I called it my 10th favorite of 2011 since the year seemed to be filled with many great movies that I enjoyed slightly more. Without a doubt, A Separation is one of those movies that needs to be seen by everyone. I can see this film playing in classrooms. As Ultra Culture says, watch "the film now so nobody can accuse you of bandwagon-jumping when it wins the Foreign Language Oscar and becomes the talk of middle-class dinner parties across the country."
DISCUSS: What did you think of A Separation? What did you think of the ending? What do you think of Iran's culture?
Security pulls an Iranian man back after seeing Justin Bieber walking down the hallway.
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