In A Separation, lauded by critics, and recipient of the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2012, the title refers to more than just a marital crisis. There is a separation of class, family values, religious ideals, and the separation of a father and son, divided by Alzheimer’s—a million miles apart in the same house.
Simin, played by an Isabella Rosellini lookalike with dyed red hair, wants a divorce, not just from her husband it seems, but from the Iranian political system. He doesn’t want her to take their daughter with her, and drags his feet through the process. She moves in with her parents, awaiting an outcome, and he hires a working class woman to come and care for his father during the day. Their worlds collide, the hired help neglects the father for personal issues, an ambiguous fight takes place in the apartment, and the complexity that ensues both on and off screen is both masterful and judicious. The film explores the truth and how people come to it. There is a lot of really subtle and strong acting and directing here that makes viewers considerate of everyone involved. As NPR movie critic John Powers says, “Nobody is a villain. Everybody has their reasons.”
The most telling scenes are between Nader and his daughter, Termeh—when he’s helping her with homework, and driving her to school. At a gas station, he sits in the driver’s seat while she pumps the gas. She gets back in the car and says people are staring at her. “Let them look,” he says. He then instructs her to go back to the attendant who shortchanged her. A father in modern Tehran teaching his daughter to be a person with rights, rather than gender afflicted, as conservative society would prefer. When Termeh questions his knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the fight between he and the maid, he explains the nuances of the situation. She asks why he doesn’t just tell the judge what he told her. Nader says, “Never mind them. I want you to know.”
This film is real hard-hitter politically and sociologically. It’s grounded in a situation that could happen among any group-blame directed outrageously, blackmail, deceit, then guilt. Jealously for the lot of others. Feeling something different for the same person hour by hour. But it dissects all of the above without being psychological. Director Asghar Farhadi is skillful with allowing just enough inference into the back stories of these characters. Why Simin and Nader are contemplating divorce, why the maid, Razheih’s husband, Houdat has been let go from his previous employer, and what Termeh thinks of her parents relationship. In the end, much like the rest of young Iran, its up to her to decide which side to choose.
For me, I was rooting for the dad.
