Author Topic: A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)  (Read 10156 times)

Totoro

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A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)
« on: November 22, 2011, 10:21:28 PM »
So several of us have seen it, why don't we discuss it? Here's my review:


A SEPARATION (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)
For lack of better words, A SEPARATION is mainly about a clustercuss of events that occur after a mother of a middle class Iranian leaves her family to live with her mother. With several sentences about the film in the festival's program and a review from a rodent blogger, I expected a movie that would look into the sociopolitical problems of divorce in Iran. Instead, for the majority of the film, the characters aren't divorced but merely separated, only bound to each other for the worry of their daughter admidst the chaos of previously said events. Much of the first half of the film is devoted to building the several different characters within the cast. This is the absolute strongest quality of the narrative: there's no flat out caricatures in the cast. There's no one dimensional role. As written, the characters are fully three dimensional: you'll find yourself constantly switching sides, almost swearing allegiances to one family than the next minute you can't help but feel bad for the other side.

I don't want to give away the circumstances that start what could end up being as neverending feud (I'd like to take that to the Spoiler subforum once this film gets a wider release) because there's just so much build up to that point. This is slightly off topic, but something you definitely must not do. Do NOT watch the trailer for this film. It gives away a MAJOR plot point.

Anyway back to the review - when I realized exactly what the writer was doing, I got a certain image in my mind clearly. The image is this: all of the film's characters were holding a bowl of water. All of the bowls had an equal amount of water in their bowl. They're blind folded and they're walking in all kinds of directions. One is bound to hit the other and they eventually do. In comparison to other films, the several layered characters is absolutely refreshing.

Like this year's THE TREE OF LIFE where the secret core of the film was a boy trying to forgive a father, the secret core of A SEPARATION is about a girl trying to decide between which parent she's more connected with. It's not an easy question. There's no stronger evidence than the ending, which I'm sure will be widely divisive. I didn't like it at first, but now I'm in the middle with it. I could go either way.

There's a lot to appreciate about this film. It touches on so many socio-political questions that I don't want to spoil here. The fact that they got away with so much under the thumb of the Iranian government is astonishing. It has a feminist perspective in it by observing the circumstances (my new favorite word) that women in Iran are in. These circumstances lead to several of the film's major dilemmas. In fact, the argument could be made that the entire film is put into motion because of the restrictions that women are put under. Nader, the husband, knows that he has the power. Temereh, the daughter, has accepted this, but Simin (the mother) hasn't. Again, it's a wonder this passed by the tyrannical advisory board.

I have few complaints. My main problem is that there's a question that's completely ignored for the majority of the film. The question involves the nanny's whereabouts during a certain incident. This question lingers for such a long time that you wonder if the characters are dumb for not figuring out given the consequences if they don't figure their situation out (I'm being vague on purpose and because the spoiler cover is gone). This frustrated me, but it's really a minor complaint. All of this talk and I haven't mentioned the performances? Well, they were uniformly great. The standout was the nanny for me, played by Sereh Bayat. It's such a complex, but deeply sympathetic performance. All in all, I feel like this is one of the few films that feels like it was originally made for the Iran only, but also works universally as well. Every time I think about it, I love it more.

What did you think of the ending? It seems pretty divisive, at least in my theatre.

Lobby

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Re: A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)
« Reply #1 on: November 23, 2011, 12:57:47 AM »
OK, reposting my review below. We have been discussing it a bit in the Write about... thread. And more so in chat, but that's unfortunately not recorded...



A brave movie from the country where they put filmmakers in jail

    “How well will my movie make in the box office? Will it be enough for them to trust me to make another film?”

I imagine thoughts like this pop up in the mind of a film maker every now and then. Or, for the ones who are more artsy than market oriented:

    “Will I get approval by the critic NN? Will it make a success at the festival circuit? Will my peers respect me?”

But there are places in the world where the questions are about something completely different:

    “Will I get away with this? Will they allow it at all? Could I end up in a prison? Or if not – did I compromise too much, censoring myself?”

Filmmakers in prison
I thought about this as I watched the recent movie A Separation, which is made by the Iranian director Asghar Farhadi.

I don’t know what worries he’s been up to making the film, but I would be surprised if the process has been pain free. After all he lives in a country where movies are rigorously examined by authorities and you need a special beforehand permission for every piece of music you want to use.

Some Iranian filmmakers have fled the country. Others have been arrested, such as Jafar Panahi, who now is serving a six year prison punishment for daring to make movies that challenge the regime. He is forbidden to make any more movies, give any further interviews or to leave Iran for the next 20 years.

I don’t know how Fahadi got his film through the system, but I wonder what the Iranian government now makes of his success. A Separation has been widely praised by critics and was awarded at the Berlin festival earlier this year.

Are they proud and see it as a chance to give Iran some positive press? Or are they worried because it draws the attention of the world audience to the oppression and the poor circumstances that many people – particularly women – live under in Iran? If I were in their position I would be worried.

A political movie
At first sight A Separation doesn’t carry any political message. It begins as a story about a middle class couple in Iran that is going through a divorce. Simin, the woman, wants to leave the country. Nader refuses to do so since he wants to take care of his senile father who lives with them. And in the middle is their daughter who has ties to both parents and would rather not have to choose between them.

Nader hires a woman, Razieh, to help him to look after his father while he’s at work. One day something happens and Nader finds himself accused of having pushed Razieh to fall in the stairs in such a way that she had a miscarriage. Soon enough they’re in court, and that’s what most of the movie is about. It’s a court drama, alternated with images from the growing conflict between the two families involved.

I guess the political dimension isn’t too obvious (far from all reviews I’ve seen of the movie has even mentioned it), and perhaps that’s why it also has slipped under the radar of the authorities in Iran.

You could argue that it’s a movie about personal choices about individuals handling ethical dilemmas, universal issues of right and wrong that aren’t tied to a certain confession or ideology.

But for me it was most of all a reminder about how harsh it must be to live in Iran if you’re a secularized intellectual with a modern perspective on life.

Several critics have mentioned how it brings an updated image of how the middleclass live their lives in Iran of today. In some ways their lifestyle resembles a lot to the lifestyle of middleclass people anywhere in the world. They too are trying to bring their life puzzle together. They too heat their dinner in a microwave oven.

But it also shows something more. It shows a view on women that we left behind us hundreds if not thousands of years ago that is still in action. It shows laws that don’t make a lot of sense and an arbitrary court system. It shows a land ruled by rigorous religious beliefs, where human rights are put aside in the name of God.

Divorcing a country
I must admit to begin with I couldn’t quite understand why Simin insisted on having this divorce, why she was so desperate to leave Iran that she was ready to sacrifice her marriage and perhaps even the relationship to her daughter for it. It seemed a bit coldhearted and unreasonable, even selfish. But as the movie went by I changed as I started to see Iran through her eyes. I understood why she had to go, even if it was a decision that would give her pain. She wanted more out of life than she could get if she stayed, like so many other non religious Iranians who have seen no alternative but to choose the exile. We’re not just watching the he separation between a man and a woman; we’re also watching the separation from a country.

A few days have passed since I watched A Separation, but it keeps lingering in my mind, especially in the light of the destiny of Jafar Panahi. I had never heard of him before, but I learned about his case as I was doing a little research for this post.

Of course I’ve not been unaware of that there are countries where the right to free speech isn’t respected. However it isn’t something I usually pay a lot of thoughts, busy as I am with my own life. Aren’t we all? But the story about the filmmaker put in jail managed to break through my natural defense system against “misery of the world news”. I get equally angry and sad when I think about it.

As for the movie my biggest concerns are with the teenage daughter of Nader and Simin. Will she ever get to live in a country where she’s allowed to let her hair fly freely in the air? Where she can make the movie she wants to and use any music she likes without asking for permission?

There is no answer. But I know what I hope for.

A Separation (Jodaeiye Nader az Simin, Asghar Farhadi, IR, 2011) My rating: 4/5
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worm@work

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Re: A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)
« Reply #2 on: November 23, 2011, 06:08:08 AM »
Quote from: Totoro
What did you think of the ending? It seems pretty divisive, at least in my theatre.

I thought the ending (providing imo the perfect bookend to the beginning) was great. By divisive, do you mean that people were split on what they thought happened (i.e. the daughter's decision) or conflicted in terms of whether or not they liked the ending?

I wasn't immediately sure about the daughter's decision, per se, mostly because at the time at least, I felt extremely conflicted myself (another testament to the strength of the film imo). On reflection, however, I am leaning towards thinking that the daughter chooses to go with the mom... partially because I think of the key reasons she chose to stay with the dad was because she thought her mom would come back and that the separation could be avoided altogether. I think the events preceding the court scene highlight the difficulty in bridging different types of gaps (be they social, economic, ideological or hey, just different priorities).
More importantly, though, I think she had her dad on a pedestal that's heavily compromised by the end of the film.

I have few complaints. My main problem is that there's a question that's completely ignored for the majority of the film. The question involves the nanny's whereabouts during a certain incident. This question lingers for such a long time that you wonder if the characters are dumb for not figuring out given the consequences if they don't figure their situation out (I'm being vague on purpose and because the spoiler cover is gone). This frustrated me, but it's really a minor complaint.

Like you, I too felt like the missing nanny ended up as a bit of a deus ex machina. But again, I didn't have a major problem with it at all. I am not saying that it's not an important plot point (which it certainly is). But do you think it's crucial in that it acquits anyone?

ETA: Just to clarify, I don't think that the daughter choosing to live with the mom is necessarily a better/happier ending.
« Last Edit: November 23, 2011, 07:54:02 AM by worm@work »

Lobby

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Re: A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)
« Reply #3 on: November 23, 2011, 07:01:43 AM »
I too find it a little odd that it's gone through the board. I even got a comment that it's the Oscar candidate from Iran this year... Maybe they just don't see how it can be interprated.

The ending is a bit open I guess, but I wish - and believe - that the daughter will go with her mother. And since I have the habit to come up with happy ends in my head about what happened afterwards, I also think that the father died soon after and that the father thereafter realized that he too should go and join his family. So in the end they reunicted abroad and lived happily the rest of their lives. or as happy as you can be in exile.
Hm. Perhaps they lived in exile for a few years and then returned when things had improved in Iran?

Yes, I'm a dreamer, I know. ;)
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Totoro

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Re: A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)
« Reply #4 on: November 23, 2011, 02:54:59 PM »
I just wrote an entire piece about how the ending doesn't work and then I realized that it totally does!

Lobby - you're "divorcing a country" line hit me. In the end Temereh isn't divorcing her country, per se, but she's choosing to live without it or live with it. I'm sure the people of Iran feel a loyalty to their country as they feel a disloyalty as well. We want to believe that our country is doing the right thing, but once we're shown that it's not true, we find ourselves lost and confused just as the daughter is at the end.

Wow. Yeah, at first I hated the ending, thought it was false ambiguity just for the sake of it. Now I can't imagine it any other way.

Lobby

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Re: A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)
« Reply #5 on: November 23, 2011, 03:27:17 PM »
I'm glad that interpretation made sense to you! So far I haven't seen anyone else reading this into the movie to be honest. I started to think it was just me.
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verbALs

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Re: A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)
« Reply #6 on: January 14, 2012, 07:49:33 AM »
The woman in the couple has no choice but to leave if she wants a future for herself and her daughter.
The daughter at one point tells the father that his wife has no intention of staying away, and, in fact, has all of her stuff in the car ready to move back in. It is the circumstances of the trial with the cleaner that causes her to walk out again.

They were playing a game of "I care less than you do" & "See If I Care!" that will be familiar to couples around the world. That dynamic of a relationship was so familiar. I think that idea that it is a universal condition is more valuable than accentuating and concentrating on the differences.

It was expressed earlier in this thread that it was a surprise for this film to be passed by Iranian censors. I think we can at least agree that the film shows the female condition in Iran in a very positive light from their point of view (and I think seeing their point of view is a fundamental element of the purpose of the communication in art). As in "look at women demanding repsect" or "look at the lady driving the nice Peugeot" or "see that girl learning to be multi-lingual".

If you just take the western pov it misses a lot of what the film maker wants to express about his country (ie look at the small injustices in the system) and how the Iranians want to present themselves. There is a lot of intelligence, morality, piety, respect for the law being presented.
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Lobby

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Re: A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)
« Reply #7 on: January 14, 2012, 03:33:44 PM »
I've had a sinking gut feeling that the critical success of this movie might play in the hands of the regime in Iran and your comment is a sign that this might be the case.

I wish that This Is Not a Film, another movie from Iran that was made illegaly and smuggled out of the country got as much intention and was as spread as this one. I rank it higher than this one.

After watching how Iran treats people whose only crime is that they want to make movies, I can't think of the injustices in their system as small or that there is any intelligence, morality, piety and respect in it.



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verbALs

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Re: A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)
« Reply #8 on: January 14, 2012, 03:40:27 PM »
Quote
I've had a sinking gut feeling that the critical success of this movie might play in the hands of the regime in Iran and your comment is a sign that this might be the case.

You must admit this comment is a little bit over dramatic.
I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art; I don't do that so much anymore. - Banksy

Lobby

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Re: A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)
« Reply #9 on: January 14, 2012, 03:44:39 PM »
Quote
I've had a sinking gut feeling that the critical success of this movie might play in the hands of the regime in Iran and your comment is a sign that this might be the case.

You must admit this comment is a little bit over dramatic.

It probably is. I think I'm getting overly emotional about this topic for some reason. I feel so strong with the people who suffer from censorship, imprisonment, discrimination against women etc. I turn into a wild-eyed monster by those issues. So I think I'd better refrain form discussing this movie any further. We can just be happy that we both appreciated the movie, even though for very different reasons. Fair enough.
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