Separate but the Same

Not that I give any credence to the annual Academy Awards popularity contest, but it's a real tragedy to see Asghar Farhadi's A Separation nominated in the wrong category. True, it is a foreign film, but is cinema not among the most universal of languages? The Best Picture award should, at the very least, attempt to celebrate the best film of the year, regardless of origin. Technically, The Artist is French, yet it's the current favorite to win Best Picture. A British film, The King's Speech, won last year. Slumdog Millionaire, another British production with over half its dialogue spoken in Hindi, won Best Picture in 2008. In the last fifteen years, Life is Beautiful (1998) from Italy and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) from Taiwan, were nominated for the Academy's highest honor. A Separation should also be up for the top prize, or nothing at all, as far as I'm concerned. If not for The Tree of Life, this would be my favorite film of 2011.

The Academy was right on, however, in nominating the superb screenplay by the director himself. Easily one of the finest pieces of writing for the screen in years, I was struck by the sheer intelligence and economy of this thing. When I think of the greatest screenplays ever written, including Chinatown (1974), Network (1976), All About Eve (1950), etc., I recall similar attributes. Strong characters, great dialogue, spot-on pacing, and an effective subtext. Typically, I go on and on about film as a visual medium, but A Separation would make for a crackling good read as well. Unfortunately it would lack some marvelous acting on the page, as everyone here is fantastic.

The story, set in Tehran, follows an upper-middle class couple, Nader (Peyman Moaadi) and Simin (Leila Hatami), who had planned to leave Iran together with their ten-year-old daughter, Termeh (Sarina Farhadi). After much procrastination and their visas set to expire, Nader has decided he must stay to care for his Alzheimer's afflicted father, who lives with them. For Simin, this means they must get a divorce, despite their love for one another, so she can leave the country with Termeh. Nader blocks the entire process by refusing to allow his daughter to be taken away.

As Simin prepares to move out of their apartment in protest, she delays the inevitable in a lovely scene, giving Nader one last chance to beg her not to leave. He wants to, we feel, but his pride prevents him. With Simin at her parents', Nader hires a poor pregnant woman, Razieh (Sareh Bayat), to care for his father while he's at work. She desperately needs the job as her husband, Hojjat (Shahab Hosseini), is in a great deal of debt. Razieh can not tell her husband, however, since it is against her religion to be alone with another man, no matter how old or harmless he may be. In a scene that reveals the extent of her Islamic faith, she wonders if it's a sin to help Nader's father clean and dress after wetting himself.

One day when Nader and Termeh arrive home, they discover his father tied to the bed, abandoned and near death. Later, a heated argument ensues between Nader and Razieh; he accuses her of leaving to run errands and fires her, while she insists her sudden absence could not be helped and demands payment. Nader gives her a hard shove out the door. No one specifically witnesses Razieh falling down the stairs, but neighbors rush out after the commotion to see that she appears to have done so. That evening, Razieh suffers a miscarriage, and her irate husband finds out what she was up to behind his back. This event sets the real drama in motion, as Razieh and Hojjat seek justice.

A Separation is one of those rare films that seems never to take a wrong step. There is an awful lot of dialogue, one might even describe the picture as being “talky” if every line didn't feel so crucial to the whole. We see all sides of the story, we understand each character's perspective and motivation. Nader is clearly a good man, he loves his father, his wife, and his daughter. He seems a responsible, respectful citizen. He is stubborn and prideful at times, however, and these traits clash with the personalities of others. I understood this pride, and fully sympathized with his situation. Simin loves her husband dearly, but also wants what is best for her daughter. She finds that she may have reason to be concerned for her child's safety, a fear anyone can understand. Razieh's faith is her strongest attribute, one that guides her every ethical decision. How can one argue with that? Even the hot-headed Hojjat earns our sympathy; he's a desperate, depressed man who lost his job with a family to care for.

I was one hundred percent invested in this film emotionally. It hooked me not by throwing melodramatics in my face, but by leisurely introducing people I grew to care about and placing them in believable situations. No one does anything out of character. One may not agree with every character's decisions, but those decisions never conflict with their unique personalities or convictions. By the end it felt wholly satisfying, honest, and provocative, almost like a work of fine literature. I couldn't wait to turn back to the very first page, and I revisited the film a week later, in fact. Once again, I thought to myself, “What a piece of work.”

The film is Iranian, but it is not political. Tehran is the setting, not the subject. It is a movie about people, with concerns no different than yours or mine, and therefore it strikes a universal chord. It could have been made anywhere, and it would have been equally wonderful. Films such as this can help us to understand that a government is separate from the people, its ambitions not always reflecting that of the people. Admiring this film is not a celebration of Iran, but of humanity and some damn fine storytelling.

I have had the good fortune to travel quite a bit in the last few years. I've seen a lot of Europe and Southeast Asia. I am dying to visit Greece and Turkey, but any further east and my government advises otherwise. We keep hearing about sanctions and a possible Israeli strike on Iran. There is an awful lot of fear mongering going on in the American media, which incidentally ran stories about crazy riots and terrorist threats sweeping Paris during my stay, scaring my family half to death back home, yet I saw nothing of the sort...and I was there. All I know is that if America is involved in a war with Iran in the future, it will not be the fault of people like Nader, Simin, Razieh, or Hojjat.

Please do attempt to see this film free of prejudice and the influence of propaganda. It's a masterpiece, in any culture or language.