A SEPARATION - Movie Review Example

A Separation – Movie Review Despite of all the rage of romantic, action and science-tech flicks, Iranian director Asghar Farhadi has done a tremendous job by producing a drama film that covers different aspects of a human life, specifically of those residing in the regions such as Iran, Iraq or Afghanistan. The title ‘Separation’ dos not speaks about the divorce between a husband and wife, but the partition between different aspects of life. The movie starred Leila Hatami, Peyman Moaadi, Shahab Hosseini and Sareh Bayat as the major cast, who were one of the factors for the movie’s success.

In relation to analyzing the movie we will discuss the theme of the film, the camera’s angles and its effectiveness and casting of the actors, where they adequate in their job or not. Moving to the plot of the film, Simin (Leila Hatami) wants her husband Nader (Peyman Moaadi) and an eleven year old daughter Termeh (Sarina farhadi) to emigrate, citing the circumstances of Iran and its rigid rule for women. However, Nader is not willing to agree, since his father, who is an Alzheimer patient, is not well and he cannot leave his father in such condition, leaving the pair in an unreasonable situation.

This consequently leads to Simin asking for a divorce, which Nader is not willing to give. From here, Razieh (Sareh Bayat) enters as a maid hired by Nader to look after his father, since Simin has left him for her parents’ house. Thus, one events lead to another and the movie ends with Termeh deciding the custody for her, while her parents are waiting, separated by a glass wall. Outlining social barriers and criticism of inequality among the gender in Iran culture make up the theme of the movies.

Starting with the first theme, the introductory scene of the film in which images of passport being photocopied are shown, depicts that the value of the people has stooped to a strings of numbers, as if they have no value. Similarly, the shot of Simin not able to have access to forthcoming travel, but is refused in the introductory scenes and not mentioned again throughout the whole film is also another depiction of social barrier. Interestingly, the other theme is inequality among men and women, for instance in regions such as Iran, women does not have the right or power to explore their opportunities or turn into a willful, independent and strong women, but Farhadi illustration of Simin shows that she is an educated and enlighten women who knows that her daughter will not have those opportunities at her disposal, if they continue their stay, as she will have in another free country.

Moving to the next thesis, the employment of camera was very efficient. This can be seen through the placement of camera that shot the pair in court room so that the viewers can take the role of the unseen judge and form their own opinion regarding the situation. Moreover, the movement of camera in most of the scene is used to portray disturbance among characters and the situations. Likewise, cameras were also positioned in doorways or around corners to capture the deepness of the character and what their expression are conveying to the viewers.

Lastly, the success of the film was a result of professionalism in the acting. The characters was beautifully played by the respective actors, either it was of a willful women, dominating and a concerned son and a submissive and naïve maid. For instance, the reaction of Nader on changing of country and his unshakable decision of staying back, provide the audience with the image of a pro eastern dominating male and husband, who are not ready to accept the concept of women (especially their wives) as the head or decision maker of the family (Mehran, 199).

To sum up the article, the discussion took place on basis of the themes, effectiveness of camera and professionalism of actors in the movie. From the point of portraying social barriers and criticism of gender biasness to productivity of camera usage and actors, the film became appealing to the eyes of the west. As far as my opinion is concerned, Farhadi’s bold step of highlighting the dominating issues of Iran and critically illustrating it, was the main reason of the movie’s success.BibliographyMehran, Golnar.

"Lifelong Learning: New opportunities for women in a Muslim country (Iran)." Comparative Education (1999): 201-215.