Film Review: "A Separation"

This should be a textbook example of how a character-focused film can tell a compelling story with a small cast, strong acting, and no music. Asghar Farhadi crafted a story dealing with the separation of two parents, and an incident as a result of that that eventually makes that separation permanent.

The strongest aspect of this story is the characters, and their specific flaws and motivations. The story's central focus is an incident where Nader (Peyman Mooadi) pushes Razieh (Sareh Bayat) out his door, and she suffers a fall. Subsequent to this, she suffers a miscarriage, leading her husband Hodjat (Shahab Hosseini) to accuse and threaten Nader. It is only after Nader's wife, Simin (Leila Hatami), agrees to pay Hodjat off that we start seeing the true colors of everyone. Nader lied about him knowing Razieh's pregnancy, Razieh never mentioned getting hit by a car the day before the incident, Hodjat is hot-tempered and suffering from depression, and Simin is torn leaving her daughter, Termeh (Sarina Farhadi), as she lives with her parents. Termeh even goes against her principles and lies in court, just to save her father. She even lives with him, all in an attempt to not have her parents separate. In the end, they do, and she's left to choose who to live with, but we the audience at left waiting, in quite a powerful ending.


The major characters here are all flawed, as humans are, but we can also see why they did what they chose to do. We see their stresses, such as Nader's father with Alzheimer's, and we see their priorities. We see their love, and their fear. This is a beautiful portrait of these different characters. And I also love how it captured this specific society, especially since it was a society based, to my knowledge, on Islamic principles. I also liked the way it was told, and what we got to see and what we didn't. We ourselves aren't sure what happened. We never saw Razieh get hit by the car. We don't see how she fell after Nader threw her out. We are left in doubt as to what exactly happened. Did she get pushed onto the steps? Maybe she slipped on the water that was there after she mopped. Maybe he did push her. Just like her, we just aren't sure. Powerful.


This is true film art. I love movies like The Avengers, but to me, films like A Separation are truly film at its finest, and proof that film can truly be an art form. You don't need music, you don't need fancy effects, or epic storylines. You need characters you can care about, whom you come to understand. This film deserved much more recognition by AMPAS, although I am very glad it won the oscar for best foreign film.


 

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