A Seperation Review

• 19th Jul 2011

For anyone who has seen Nick Bloomfield’s seminal documentary, Divorce Iranian Style some resonances will come to the fore. In such a deeply religious and fundamentalist country as Iran this subject is not one that can be taken too lightly. And, as with divorces/separations around the world they involve deeply complex back stories. But divorce is not the only theme here; separation is also the distance between human beings. Winner of the Golden Bear at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, A Separation has a story that draws the viewer in and, like most Iranian films it has a documentary style with almost intrusive hand held camera work that gives it edge of reality. The film opens with Simin (Leila Hatami) and Nader (Payman Moadi) at a divorce hearing  –  she wants to move abroad for, we presume a job opportunity and he needs to stay in Tehran to look after his sick father who is suffering from Alzheimer’s; they also have a young teenage daughter to consider. From the conversation that goes on we learn that neither are bad people, just with different considerations. When Nader says to the judge that he is my father, she replies with “but does he know you”, to which Nader retorts “he is still my father.” The documentary style of the film is evident from the beginning as the couple face the camera and we, the viewer are left to judge the pair (the face of the judge is never seen). After they have separated Nader takes on a carer to look after Nader’s father (Simin never does leave) with a young child of her own and is pregnant. The shift of focus then shifts to the inexperienced carer (she phones an Imam to ask if it morally right to clean an old man who has soiled himself). When Nader returns home one day he discovers that the carer is out taking care of an errand only to discover that his father has been tied to a bed and has collapsed on the floor. On her return Nader proceeds to argue and berate her, also accusing her of stealing some money that has disappeared. She vehemently denies this and he kicks her out of the apartment. A little while later he learns that she has been taken to hospital following a miscarriage. And so the blame game begins with the case going to court and Nader is accused of murder (in Iran if an unborn child dies from the fault of another or an abortion this is treated as murder). The woman, Razieh’s (Sareh Bayet) hot headed husband attempts to beat Nader and in court many arguments are exchanged.

This is a strong and powerful drama and possibly one of the best scripted ones to have come out of Iran for some years. Throughout the film our shift focuses from one character to another without casting a moral judgement on any of the principals – each character tells lies to protect themselves, not because they are a bad person, but because they think that it is the right thing to do. Only the daughter (played by the director’s real-life daughter, Sarina Farhadi) seems to display any innocence free of lies and tries to encourage her father to do the same. This is director Asghar Farhadi’s fifth film and displays a confidence in what his most accomplished film to date. For anyone who has not seen an Iranian film this is definitely a good introduction in a very human and warm story with human tragedy at the centre.

Chris Hick