A Separation is a highly volatile melodrama that batters the emotional stamina of family members as they deal with morality, temperament, emotion, deception and sin. The disciplines of Islam are very structured and condemnation, discrimination, and imprisonment can result from severe infractions. One cannot help but get caught up in the decisions of the participants in this family situation, and how it affects their lives on all levels.
A Separation is an eye-opening drama that gives insight into a culture on the other side of the world where religion is predominant, and all thoughts and actions are weighed on its laws. The sense of duty and responsibility play a leading role in the bond of matrimony, parenthood, and love.
A middle-class family living in modern-day Tehran plan to move abroad with their 11-year-old daughter Termeh (Sarina Farhadi). At the onset of the movie, Simin (Leila Hatami) seeks a separation because her husband Nader (Peyman Moaadi) refuses to leave his Alzheimer's afflicted father (Ali-Asghar Shahbazi). Because of the temporary validity of their three visas, they only have 40 days left to leave the country. In a desperate plea for a new and promising life for their young daughter, the couple takes their problem to the courts for the judge (Mohammad Ebrahimian) to decide. He declares that this is an insignificant matter, and that Simin should return to her wifely duties where family stability will not be damaged. Since Termeh remains under the control of her father, Nader, she cannot leave the country with her mother. Feeling trapped and betrayed by this decision, Simin separates from the family home and returns to live with her mother.
This is the portrayal of a serious marital breach caused by a lack of communication. With the void left by family member Simin, Nader hurriedly hires a willing but unqualified caretaker, Razieh (Sareh Bayat), to attend to his father. Because of her poverty, Razieh takes the job without informing her unemployed Muslim husband, Hodjat (Shahab Hosseini), who would object to his wife working in a man's home without his wife being present. When Razieh leaves Nader's father alone to attend some personal matter, chaos ensues – tempers ignite and deception results in a suit of manslaughter.
As this marriage dissolves, so do the lives of the family members. Simin, at one point during the struggle, suggests that she would return to the union if only Nader would indicate that this would please him. But personal communication between husband and wife is severed; thus, this suggestion hangs in the air and is never acted upon.
A parade of bad choices and unbridled anger take center state as the characters try to mold their actions to meet the standards of their religion. Dishonesty and lies creep into the mix and distrust and love battle for a child's forgiveness. In the end, there is a twist to the story as honesty is revealed and justice accomplished. However, the separation continues to divide this marriage when the child is forced to make a decision on which parent she chooses to live with.
An Evening with Asghar Farhadi gives insight to the Director's objective in creating A Separation, his personal inspiration from his relationships with his father and daughter, and religion as a moral compass. He states that as moral conflict surrounds the lives of the characters, decision-making can be a "wonderful gift," but the consequences are a form of human suffering. He also states that his daughter, Sarina Farhadi, plays the role of Termeh. Many questions are posed and the answers will give the movie a greater understanding.
In the Commentary with Writer/Director Asghar Farhadi, the Director takes pride in intertwining the relationship between audience and actors. In the beginning of the movie, he has the audience watch as if they were the judge in the decision-making process, and at the conclusion of the movie, we anxiously await a daughter's decision.
The Birth of a Director goes back through Farhadi's cinematic history to his writing and directing scenarios, and how this experience affected his films. Some of the catastrophic situations are presented without judgment and give a peek into the controversies of other human situations.
A Separation is an important movie because it opens a door of understanding into a world not unlike other parents caught in the struggle of trying to make a better life for their children. It reveals how quick decisions can affect our futures and disrupt the order of our daily lives. It shows how anger can betray us and steal away our security. It forces innocence into maturity and gives us regret in return. A Separation imparts the tragedy of human frailty and the destruction it brings with it. This movie shows how we, as parents, struggle to bring a decent and honorable lifestyle to our families, and how we are all the same in our love and sacrifice.
