The Fundy Film Society

Jodaeiye Nader az Simin (A Separation)

Jodaeiye Nader az Simin (A Separation)

Transcending cultural and religious bar­riers to present a fascinating portrait of contemporary Iran, A Separation is Asghar Farhadi’s Divorce, Persian Style. The film has already received acco­lades from critics and audiences around the globe, leading to its selection as Iran’s Best Foreign Language Film entry for the 84th Academy Awards.

Nader (Peyman Moaadi) and Simin (Leila Hatami) are well-behaved middle-class Iranian citizens. They fight quietly, hold decent jobs and prefer to resolve their domestic differences in court. But they only comfort themselves with such courtesy because they might be a little too civilized to let their real feelings show. After Nader refuses to emigrate from Iran (a move that would provide a brighter future for their offspring), Simin files for divorce.

Retreat­ing to his mother’s house, Nader hires Razieh (Sareh Bayat), a deeply religious and secretly pregnant young woman, to look after his father, who suffers from Alzheim­er’s disease. As Razieh’s “condition” starts getting in the way of her job, Nader allows the worst aspects of his repressed nature to emerge – resulting in Razieh’s uncivilized termination and even more courtroom headaches. As Nader’s entire family is drawn into an unprecedented feud, Far­hadi continues his devilishly clever turning of narrative tables, selectively revealing new details and forcing the viewer to con­tinually reassess each character.

With extraordinary performances by an outstanding cast, A Separation delivers Farhadi’s best work to date; a maze of nar­rative intrigue and complex emotion in which everyone is both innocent and guilty, depending on where you stand.