Arts & Entertainment

“A Separation” (+) January 18, 2012         
 
I enjoyed this film, but I don’t agree with other critics who gave it rave reviews. 
 
          Simin (Leila Hatami) has arranged to permanently leave Iran.  Her husband, Nader (Peyman Moadi), has agreed to her departure, but he does not want to leave Tehran and won’t allow her to take their 11-year-old daughter, Termeh (Sarina Farhadi), with her. 
 
          Nader’s father, who suffers from dementia and needs a caretaker, lives with the family.  Razieh (Sareh Bayat) is hired to assist the elderly man but for religious reasons is unable to fully care for him, including bathing him.  An argument with Nader ensues, and their dispute which has a physical aspect ends up in court.  The issue involving the efforts of Nader’s wife to take their daughter out of the country is also a matter in the same court. 
 
          The acting is excellent and the many issues, including the religious holds on the characters, add up to an interesting movie but not, for me, the blockbuster claimed by others.  (My tenuous review has nothing to do with the fact that Iran has effectively declared war on the U.S. and that it planned to kill the Saudi Arabian ambassador and blow up the Saudi and Israeli embassies.  Then there is Iran’s nuclear bomb development which I’ll leave for the next review of an Iranian film.)  In Persian, with English subtitles.