If you haven't heard of "A Separation", that's a real shame. The film won this year's academy award for Best Foreign Film and was received with much fanfare and, based on this evidence, it was all more than well-earned. "A Separation" is one of the best films I've seen for a good long-while.
If I haven't mentioned before, I have a soft-spot for foreign flicks, and I am glad that I do, or else I would have missed what is really a fantastic film. Set in Tehran, Iran (the director, Asghar Farhadi, is Iranian, and the film is completely in Farsi) "Separation" is the story of a middle-class couple, Nader and Simin, now facing divorce as Simin wants to take the family (including their 11-year old daughter) abroad, while Nader refuses as he wants to stay in the city and care for his live-in geriatric father, suffering from dementia. The story ends up being not so much about the couple's impending separation (Simin goes to live with her parents, refusing to leave the country while their daughter commits to staying with Nader) but this instead serves as a backdrop to the controversy that soon emerges involving the poor woman from the suburbs that Nader hires to look after his father while he works his day job at a bank.
That may not sound like incredibly captivating stuff, but, take my word for it, it is. The acting, which all comes from actors/actresses that I have never heard of, and I'm sure few others have, is brilliant, helped along by fantastic writing. I think special mention should go to the actor who plays Nader. I hope he receives more recognition for his portrayal of a man caught between caring for the needs of an ailing father and keeping his family together, all while being weighed down by a trying situation that suddenly landed in his lap. I think what really sealed the deal for me was the insight that "Separation" offers into middle-class Iranian life. Given the nature of relations between Iran and the west, the country carries an air of mystery to it, maybe not to the level of North Korea, but more so than most other places, and I think any opportunity to look at life in Iran is an opportunity worth taking. Iran of course is constantly in the news, and of course for all the wrong reasons. While the government there may be deplorable, the people by-and-large, are not. While Iranians must deal with special circumstances, those brought about my living under a theocratic government, I would hope that westerners, and Americans in particular, can watch this film and see that Iranians, just like anyone else, behave much like anyone else, and fight their own battles among their own unique situations. That is horribly cliched, but true. I hoped that the movie might show more of Tehran, a massive, pulsating metropolis that, again, many can't get a god feel for. This really didn't happen, as it is set in a regular-looking middle-class community, but this is just a minor complaint and doesn't take away at all from the movie's brilliance.
Verdict: Please see it. Grade: A
If you liked this movie you might also like: Can't think of many films that fall in the same vein, but don't forget to give foreign films a chance, I doubt you will be disappointed.
If I haven't mentioned before, I have a soft-spot for foreign flicks, and I am glad that I do, or else I would have missed what is really a fantastic film. Set in Tehran, Iran (the director, Asghar Farhadi, is Iranian, and the film is completely in Farsi) "Separation" is the story of a middle-class couple, Nader and Simin, now facing divorce as Simin wants to take the family (including their 11-year old daughter) abroad, while Nader refuses as he wants to stay in the city and care for his live-in geriatric father, suffering from dementia. The story ends up being not so much about the couple's impending separation (Simin goes to live with her parents, refusing to leave the country while their daughter commits to staying with Nader) but this instead serves as a backdrop to the controversy that soon emerges involving the poor woman from the suburbs that Nader hires to look after his father while he works his day job at a bank.
That may not sound like incredibly captivating stuff, but, take my word for it, it is. The acting, which all comes from actors/actresses that I have never heard of, and I'm sure few others have, is brilliant, helped along by fantastic writing. I think special mention should go to the actor who plays Nader. I hope he receives more recognition for his portrayal of a man caught between caring for the needs of an ailing father and keeping his family together, all while being weighed down by a trying situation that suddenly landed in his lap. I think what really sealed the deal for me was the insight that "Separation" offers into middle-class Iranian life. Given the nature of relations between Iran and the west, the country carries an air of mystery to it, maybe not to the level of North Korea, but more so than most other places, and I think any opportunity to look at life in Iran is an opportunity worth taking. Iran of course is constantly in the news, and of course for all the wrong reasons. While the government there may be deplorable, the people by-and-large, are not. While Iranians must deal with special circumstances, those brought about my living under a theocratic government, I would hope that westerners, and Americans in particular, can watch this film and see that Iranians, just like anyone else, behave much like anyone else, and fight their own battles among their own unique situations. That is horribly cliched, but true. I hoped that the movie might show more of Tehran, a massive, pulsating metropolis that, again, many can't get a god feel for. This really didn't happen, as it is set in a regular-looking middle-class community, but this is just a minor complaint and doesn't take away at all from the movie's brilliance.
Verdict: Please see it. Grade: A
If you liked this movie you might also like: Can't think of many films that fall in the same vein, but don't forget to give foreign films a chance, I doubt you will be disappointed.
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