A separation, 2011 (Jodaeiye Nader az Simin )

A separation, 2011 - Jodaeiye Nader az Simin
Director: Asghar Farhadi
Cast: Peyman Moadi, Leila Hatami, Sareh Bayat


Stage: Home theatre, post oscar fever :)


A Separation in short: Nader ('Peyman Moaadi' ) and Simin (Leila Hatami) argue about living abroad. Simin prefers to live abroad to provide better opportunities for their only daughter, Termeh. However, Nader refuses to go because he thinks he must stay in Iran and take care of his father (Ali-Asghar Shahbazi), who suffers from Alzheimers. However, Simin is determined to get a divorce and leave the country with her daughter



Preps: Hot one in the oven. Has just received an oscar for foreign movie. I am more than curious and desperately want to see it.


Reality: One of the better ones on the topic of divorce, foreign customs and adapting to environment we barely know anything of. The divorce in this case (the separation) is metaphorized to present the separation from customs (and habits) of a family, which once was united and now needs to cope with new challenge; how to survive without mother. In countries, where we could bet that women aren't really being treated equally, it turns out that lack of woman figure in a household can make all in system, where everything worked before, crash. It is amazing to see how many problems derive of a simple fact that ex-wife is missing from the picture. The horrible events that take place after a new "nurse" is employed, they all contribute to the fall down of all so-called heroes in this story. It all revolves around truth. Is this the final virtue we should all strive for?

Separation gives us perfect examples and proof of concept, where a small lie about anything can lead to massive lying where you don't know how to fix that small lie from the beginning. In some sense, it implies the world would be a better place, if we all spoke the truth. Obviously it makes a strong statement, this piece, and sits in your heart with uniqueness of telling the truth and not bending it even for a bit. It is common in the lands where they praise Koran, not to lie. If you swear on Koran, you are doomed to tell the truth. Otherwise, the belief that something bad will happen to you, is so strong, that people cannot tell lies, if they swear on the holy grale of Muslim countries.

I loved the atmosphere because it was beyond anything I could expect from this. It cannot be anticipated, what will happen and what curve the events are going to take. Which takes all the points for the script. The scenes seem realistic, the energy between the actors seems good. The only upgrade I would make would be with the young daughter, who in my opinion, could do a better job with the cast. It seemed she didn't get emotional about the role. Maybe it's expected in this world. Cannot be sure, because I don't know the habits so much I could judge. However, I loved all the controversity about this movie that made me swallow it from its head to toe.



My personal rating: 8,0 (good one. worth seeing and thinking about it. The main message, is the strongest one I have seen in a while).


A separation on IMDB