Review of A Separation (2011) by Adrian B — 06 Feb 2013

A separated couple (Leila Hatami and Peyman Moadi) are on the verge of declaring divorce as the wife (Hatami) wants to leave their home in Iran with their daughter (Sarina Farhadi), while the husband (Moadi) wants to stay to tend to his ailing father.

Tensions rise as the wife and daughter move in with her mother, while the husband goes back home to get a caretaker, who unbeknownst to him is pregnant. Unfortunately, the caretaker he hires possibly stole money and he pushes her out of his apartment, which inadvertently causes her to down some stairs, and looking at circumstances, caused her to have a miscarriage.

However, evidence that seems likely begins to fade and the truth about her miscarriage begins to emerge in an entirely different way. Absolute honest, natural, believable movie, which rightfully garnered outright praise from around the world, is by far the greatest film I have so far seen from 2011 and from Iran.

Everything is real and superbly well-acted. Even the settings and cultural aspects of Iran, such as the scarfs covering the women's heads, are brilliantly adapted into this tragic situation of the movie.

Surprisingly, it seems the number of best films of the last few years are from outside of the United States.