''A Separation'' (2011 film)- Review

Directed by: Asghar Farhadi
Released: 2011
Country: Iran

Genre: Drama

Rating: 5 out of 5

Review

Asghar Farhadi's ''A Separation'' has to be one of the most emotionally intense films I have watched recently. Filled with flawed characters in situations they never wanted to be in but where life, which is never predictable, landed them in, ''A Separation'' is a film that portrays the emotions of its characters with raw intensity.

Simin (Leila Hatami) and Nader (Peyman Moaadi) are a middle class couple living in Iran. Their family consists of themselves, their daughter, Termeh (Sarina Farhadi) and Nader's father, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease. Simin wants to move abroad for better opportunities for Termeh, but Nader will not, by any means, move abroad, as he wants to remain in Iran to take care of his sick father. When the judge does not grant them a divorce, Simin decides to separate from Nader and moves with her parents. Meanwhile, Nader hires a woman, Razieh (Sareh Bayat) to take care of his father in the daytime. Razieh is from the working class and her conservative husband, Hodjat (Shahab Hosseini) does not want her to work, but she secretly works in order to provide for her family (Hodjat is unemployed). Razieh brings her daughter, Somayeh (Kimia Hosseini) with her when she comes to Nader's house to tend to his father. A series of incidents then follow that drastically affects the lives of all of them.

Unexpected incidents take place over the course of the film and so many questions came to my mind: whom should we blame for the things that happen in the film? The characters? The situation? Or both? 

I decided, after the film ended, not to think of what to blame because it can easily be understood that it is the characters and their flaws and the particular situations that are responsible for the things that happen. But the film is not portrayed in black and white, rather, the characters we see are flawed but they are also very three-dimensional characters. The things that they do are not probably the things that they would even think of doing in any other situation. They are not bad people. Certain incidents caused certain actions, and it is easy to sympathize with every single character.

It is such an emotionally intense film. There are certain encounters between certain characters in the film that moved me deeply. Every single character is developed with care and I felt sympathy for every single character: Simin, Nader, Razieh, Hodjat, Termeh and Somayeh. Termeh, in particular, is deeply affected by the things that take place throughout the film. She is only a child and is not responsible for any of the things that happen, but the things that her parents go through greatly affects her life. 

''A Separation'' is one of the most moving films I have watched recently. It is very raw, emotionally intense and with very realistic characters in situations they never thought they would be in.