Jodái-e Náder az Simin (2011)

A Separation

2011

Directed by: Asghar Farhadi

Starring: Peyman Moadi, Leila Hatami, Sareh Bayat, 

Shahab Hosseini, Sarina Farhadi, Kimia Hosseini

I  do not usually write about new films. I figure there are enough reviews out there, both in print and on the Internet, to make it worthwhile to do so. However, for once, I make an exception. Last week, I watched an Iranian film Jodái-e Náder az Simin,  or to give it its name for international release - A Separation. 

It wouldn't be wrong to say that it affected me profoundly. So profoundly, in fact, that it took me a long time to get over the film. It is very rarely that a film affects me so badly. The last time that I took forever to get over the effects of watching a movie was when I was watching La Veuve de Saint Pierre, starring two of my favourite French actors, Juliet Binoche and Daniel Auteuil.

A Separation  is a compelling look at relationships, and provides a glimpse into one part of contemporary Iranian society. 

The deserving winner of this year's Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, A Separation is, at its core, a domestic drama. A tense, but gripping narrative, the film is impeccably crafted with strong performances from the main leads - two couples - and ably supported by an ensemble cast, including two children. The tension is heightened by the court scenes that break the narrative, by the anger and sometimes, the violence between the two men. Yet, the director has a strong grip over the emotional thread, and that is the reason why this film resonated across the world, picking up every important award within Iran, and in Europe.

Most of the action takes place inside Nader's (Peyman Moadi) and Simin's (Leila Hatami) middle-class apartment. When the movie begins, Simin has just initiated divorce proceedings. We, the audience, are almost in the role of the judge in the case, as both parties talk directly to us, proffering reasons why they should (Simin) or shouldn't (Nader) be divorced. Their daughter, Termeh (Sarina Farhadi), is 11 years old, and Simin wants to leave. She believes that her daughter will have a better future in the West. 

Nader, on the other hand, does not want to leave his father, an Alzheimer's patient, who has come to live with them. Simin is exasperated - "He doesn't even know you are his son!" she exclaims. "But I know he is my father," retorts Nader. That statement underlines Nader's character - he needs to do what is 'right'. It is a trait that he exhibits several times in the movie. What makes Simin very upset is that Nader does not stop her from going away, if she wishes.

Termeh will not leave her father; and Simin will not leave without Termeh. So, matters are at a standstill because the judge will not award a decree unless both parties have agreed to it.  Until she can get Nader to sign the divorce papers (and she has a deadline - her visa is set to expire), Simin moves back into her parents' home. 

Now that Simin is no longer living with them, Nader has to hire someone to look after his father during the day while he works at the bank, and his daughter is at school. Through Simin, who knows her sister-in-law, Nader hires a devout young woman, Razieh (Sareh Bayat), to stay with his father until he comes home in the evening. Razieh brings her little daughter Somayeh (Kimia Hosseini) with her; but she is overwhelmed the very first day. The old man is incontinent, and Razieh's finds her religious principles coming in the way of helping him clean himself. 

Her humanity comes to the fore, though, and she calls her religious adviser to find out whether it would be against her religion to change his clothes. When Nader comes home, she tells him she cannot work there anymore, but could he please hire her husband, Hodjat (Shahab Hosseini)? He is unemployed, and they are in debt. She also requests him to pretend that he has never met her - if her husband knew that she worked in Nader's house when his wife was not there, he will be very angry.

Nader agrees, but the next day sees Razieh back again. Her hot-tempered husband has been arrested and sent to prison by his creditors. Until she can arrange the bail, or plead with their creditors to take back the charge so he can be released, she will continue to work there. And so things rest, until one day, Nader comes home early to find Razieh gone, and his father unconscious on the floor, his wrist tied to the bedpost. When Razieh comes back, as she does, and without any reason for having left her charge, Nader is furious. He throws her out of the house without listening to her explanation.

This leads to grave personal consequences not only for Nader, but also for Simin, Razieh and Hodjat. As the situation becomes more and more serious, Simin comes to the aid of her estranged husband, while Razieh strives to ensure that Hodjat doesn't get into any more trouble! The children, Termeh and Somayeh, already have other serious issues that trouble them. Termeh has still to come to terms with her parents' separation; Somayeh is witness to the regular fights between her parents.

I cannot say any more without revealing the story, and the greatest strength of A Separation is the way the story is layered; like in all human interaction, the truth lies somewhere in between the two main protagonists.  

The cause is not as simple as it seems on the surface, and as the differences between the two families escalate, it seems everyone is speaking the truth - just their version of it. Somewhere, you understand the motivations for their lies of omission, because no one is intentionally bad. 

It is funny and sad, in turn, and your sympathy swerves between the participants in this human drama, as they fight for justice. This is because Farhadi does not take sides. His is a dispassionate viewpoint - everything is placed in front of you, the audience, and it is for you to judge. Or not.

All he does, is to show us the characters, their motivations, their intent, their actions, and their words, said and unsaid. We follow along, not allowed to take sides, as the story veers from one person to the other; it is ironical, then, that the daughter is asked to do so.

Farhadi also  raises the issue of the independence of women vis-a- vis their traditional roles - however independent the woman is, she is still subject to the the rules of traditional patriarchy; when the judge dismisses Simin's divorce petition, he sends them away saying that divorce has to be by mutual consent; if Nader does not sign, then the divorce cannot go through. Razieh, on the other hand, needs her husband's permission to work in the home of another man. Class also plays an important part in the conflict between the middle-class Nader, and Hodjat, unemployed and embittered. As Hodjat says in one scene, frustrated by his inability to tell his side of the story, "You know what my problem is? I can't talk like them!"

The film goes beyond the question of relationships to deal with the issues of morality vs. religion, integrity vs. expediency, right vs. 'being right'. A Separation reminds you how good a film can be, and too often, is not.

The ending is unexpected, though having seen the way the movie unfolded, it shouldn't have been. But I was not the only one in the theatre who, long after the end credits had rolled, was still sitting, waiting...