A Separation (2011)

A married couple are faced with a difficult decision - to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.

Director:

Asghar Farhadi

Writer:

Asghar Farhadi

Stars:

Payman Maadi, Leila Hatami, Sareh Bayat

Top Rated Movies #110 | Won 1 Oscar. Another 83 wins & 45 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Payman Maadi	...	Nader (as Peyman Moadi)
Leila Hatami	...	Simin
Sareh Bayat	...	Razieh
Shahab Hosseini	...	Hojjat
Sarina Farhadi	...	Termeh
Merila Zare'i	...	Miss Ghahraii
Ali-Asghar Shahbazi	...	Nader's Father
Babak Karimi	...	Interrogator
Kimia Hosseini	...	Somayeh
Shirin Yazdanbakhsh	...	Simin's Mother
Sohibanoo Zolqadr	...	Azam (as Sahabanu Zolghadr)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mohammadhasan Asghari	...	Creditor
Shirin Azimiyannezhad	...	Woman in the Bus
Hamid Dadju	...	Creditor
Mohammad Ebrahimian	...	Judge

Storyline

Nader (Payman Maadi) and Simin (Leila Hatami) argue about living abroad. Simin prefers to live abroad to provide better opportunities for their only daughter, Termeh. However, Nader refuses to go because he thinks he must stay in Iran and take care of his father (Ali-Asghar Shahbazi), who suffers from Alzheimers. However, Simin is determined to get a divorce and leave the country with her daughter.

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Plot Keywords:

divorce | alzheimer's disease | court | marital problem | girl | 

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Taglines:

Lies may lead to truth.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Family | Mystery

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material

Details

Official Sites:

Golem Distribución [Spain] Memento Films [France]

Country:

Iran France

Language:

Persian

Release Date:

16 March 2011 (Iran)

Also Known As:

A Separation

Filming Locations:

Tehran, Iran

Box Office

Budget:

$500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

IRR 1,023,080,000 (Iran), 18 March 2011

Opening Weekend USA:

$59,481, 1 January 2012, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$7,098,492

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$24,426,169

Company Credits

Production Co:

Asghar Farhadi Productions,Dreamlab Films,MPA APSA Academy Film Fund

Technical Specs

Runtime:

123 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

As of 2015, the first Iranian film to be included in the IMDb Top 250.

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Goofs

When Simin and Hojjat's sister are talking to Hojjat, the fan behind Hojjat is on at first, but off and facing a different angle in subsequent scenes.

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Quotes

Hodjat: Why do you think we beat our wives and children like animals?
Hodjat: I swear on this Qoran, we're humans just like you.

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Connections

Featured in The 84th Annual Academy Awards (2012)

User Reviews

Do yourself a favor - make sure you see this movie

Caught "A Separation" in Amsterdam last night, fully unprepared for its greatness. I hadn't been swept off my feet for a while, but this Iranian Hitchcockian drama sucked us in for 123 minutes and left us very, very impressed.

I'm mainly writing this review to assure every non-Iranian IMDb-reader that you absolutely SHOULD see "A Separation". I will be shocked if this movie doesn't win an Academy Award. The acting is great, and the script is probably the best I've seen in five years. The genius of Asghar Farhadi's story is that it piles on the tension and drama without resorting to fireworks, trickery or shock and awe plot effects. It also manages to perfectly balance the plights of several protagonists. Very few screenwriters have this capacity.

If this movie reminds me of anything, it is "Ladri di Biciclette" (Bicycle Thieves), which has a similar seemingly "simple" story setup. But then "A Separation" is much more developed, much more complex, much richer. Go see it.