A Separation (2011)
★★★★ — A Separation (2011)
A Separation arrived in 2011 as something of a watershed moment for Iranian cinema on the international stage. Written and directed by Asghar Farhadi, the film centres on a Tehran couple, Nader and Simin, who find themselves at an impasse: Simin wants to leave Iran to give their daughter a better life abroad, while Nader feels he cannot abandon his father, who is living with Alzheimer's disease. What begins as a domestic dispute about emigration quietly expands into something far more wide-ranging, pulling in questions of class, faith, honesty, and the Iranian legal system. The film's tagline, "Ugly truth, sweet lies," gives you a fair sense of the moral terrain it covers. For context on where this sits within Iranian cinema more broadly, it is worth comparing it with earlier work from that national tradition, such as Salaam Cinema (1995) and Homework (1989), both of which demonstrate just how rich and varied the country's cinematic output has been over the decades.
Farhadi had already built a solid reputation in Iran before this film, but A Separation was the production that brought him to the sustained attention of international audiences and award bodies. Made through Asghar Farhadi Productions alongside French co-producer Memento Production, the film runs at a carefully judged 123 minutes, never feeling padded or rushed. Farhadi's approach is to place the camera at a polite, almost documentary distance, letting the drama accumulate through behaviour and dialogue rather than through any flashy formal device. His later work, including The Salesman (2016), would show similar instincts at play, confirming a consistent and recognisable sensibility across his filmmaking.
The ensemble cast is one of the film's genuine strengths. Leila Hatami and Payman Maadi play Simin and Nader with a worn, familiar friction that feels entirely believable as a long marriage under pressure. Sareh Bayat is striking as Razieh, the woman hired to care for Nader's father, and Shahab Hosseini brings a raw, unpredictable energy as her husband Hodjat. Perhaps the most quietly affecting performance comes from Sarina Farhadi, the director's own daughter, playing Termeh, the couple's child caught in the middle of it all. It is a polished but unremarkable production on the surface, the kind of film that does not announce itself with grand visual gestures, and is all the more effective for it. If you have an appetite for considered, socially observant drama from outside the English-language mainstream, something like Yi Yi (2000) makes for an interesting companion piece in terms of its focus on family fracture.
A-Z World Movie Tour Iran Honestly I thought I wouldn't like this from the description. I was wrong. It's a really good film. First Iranian film to win... - Academy award for foreign film (and a nominations for best screenplay) - Golden and silver bears from Berlin film festival - Golden Globe for best foreign film The story surrounds separation. A husband and wife. One of them and their child. A father and son. A mother and unborn child. There's alot to take in. It's a drama with a quiet composure. A calm delivery, despite the extremely volatile nature of the events. The miscarriage subplot and subsequent court proceedings were a big surprise. I learnt alot about the Iranian legal system watching this too, not to mention the religious implications involving everyday life. The only real gripe I have is the unfinished business... - What happens with the family who lost a child? - What happens to the court proceedings? - What happened to the Father? - Who did the daughter choose? For that reason I've gotta knock it down.
That tension between what the film gives you and what it withholds is something I keep coming back to. There is clearly a deliberate choice being made by Farhadi to leave those threads hanging, but whether that reads as artful restraint or frustrating incompleteness is, for me, the central question the film leaves you sitting with on the way home. I cannot say it did not affect me, because it did, considerably. I just wanted a little more generosity at the finish. Still, a film that teaches you something about a legal and religious culture you did not know before, while keeping you genuinely unsettled throughout, is not something to dismiss lightly. Ugly truths, indeed.
Rating: ★★★★ | Year: 2011 | Watched: 2025-06-30
Trailer
▶ Watch the official trailer for A Separation (2011) on YouTube
Where to watch
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from Asghar Farhadi: The Salesman (2016)
More from Iran: The House Is Black (1963) · The Salesman (2016) · A Few Cubic Meters of Love (2014)
More from the 2010s: Wonder (2017) · Beautiful Boy (2018) · The Witch (2015) · What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
More drama: Viy (1967) · Wonder (2017) · A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Beautiful Boy (2018)
