A SEPARATION Review

Release Date: December 30, 2011 (Limited)
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director:  Asghar Farhadi
FilmPulse Score: 9/10

A Separation is nominated for two Oscars – one for Best Foreign Language Film and one for Best Original Screenplay. It also won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film, the Golden Bear for Best Film and Silver Bears for Best Actress and Best Actor at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival, and many more awards – too many to name. All this to say that all of these awards are well deserved; I would go so far as to say that A Separation is arguably one of the best films of the year. I hope to see a day where they have an awards ceremony for all films, not broken up into US releases and foreign language categories. A Separation is by far more deserving of a Best Picture nominee, then say, all of the titles nominated this year.

Written and directed by Asghar Farhadi, A Separation tells the story of a married couple, Nader and Simin, played by Peyman Maadi and Leila Hatami, who argue whether the family should move abroad, pursuing better conditions for their eleven year old daughter Termeh (Sarina Farhadi), or stay in Iran to care for Nader’s father, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s. The result of Nader and Simin not being able to come to a decision leads Simin to file for a divorce, in hopes that she can leave the country with her daughter. Only problem being, that Simin needs consent from Nader to get the divorce, which he does not provide, leading to Nader and Simin separating for the time being.

With Simin moving into her mother’s home, Nader is forced to hire a young, pregnant lower class woman, Razieh (Sareh Bayat) to help look after his ailing father. Razieh is a deeply religious woman, who takes the job without getting consent from her hot-tempered husband, Hodjat (Shahab Hosseini), which is traditionally required.  Razieh, at one point, actually has to call someone to find out whether changing and bathing the old man would be considered a sin. Razieh works for Nader a couple of days or so, then makes a poor decision in tying the old man to the bed and locking the door so she can run an errand, only to have Nader come home to find his father on the floor barely breathing. Needless to say, Nader is furious with Razieh and pushes her out of his home.

The film from that point delves into a complex narrative, in which the viewer is faced with questions regarding morality, class, honor, religion, justice and bending the truth to protect your family. Farhadi’s does an exceptional job with all of these subjects, dealing with moral and social topics in an intelligent and concise manner. All of this is made possible by the ensemble cast. The outstanding performances are realistic and natural, creating the most fully developed characters in a film that I have seen in recent years.  The film and its subject matter warrants discussion and will have you considering all the viewpoints and decisions well after its viewing.

A Separation is definitely in my top 5 films of year, which puts me in agreement with almost every other critic out there. Ebert went so far as to say “A Separation will become one of those enduring masterpieces watched decades from now”. I do think that of the films to come out this year, A Separation has the best chance of standing the test of time. Asghar Farhadi is officially on my radar, and I for one cannot wait to see what the future holds for this director.