12/101
A Separation (2011)
- Original title: Jodaeiye Nader az Simin (Iran)
- Written and directed by Asghar Farhadi
*SPOILER FREE
WHAT IS CINEMA? Is it the art of asking the right question? Is it the medium that provides the right answers? Or is it a still of life, a portrait of reality?
WHY IS CINEMA? Is it to influence a better life? Is it to inspire us and help us cope with day-to-day hustle? Or is it to highlight the truth, to give perspective, to mirror the real world?
This is an Iranian drama about a man, about a woman and a coming-of-age girl, about family and love's "always" tough decisions, about society and class, justice and religion, this is a drama about the most significant aspect of the human experience, ... (I'll let you finish the sentence).
A Separation follows a man, a husband and his wife who is determined to leave Iran for a better living environment for their 11-year-old daughter, but he can't as he should stay and look after his elderly father, who suffers from Alzheimer. An unfortunate event and conflicts arise in the wake of the couple's separation.
The acting is astounding in a way that you forget that you are watching a film with actors and a camera moving around them. Pouring heart-wrenching emotions on you from every direction, and keep you captive... and never let go of you.
Asghar Farhadi carries on, with a little bit of style, with the exquisite heritage of Iranian New Wave. Making a masterpiece after another, making a cinema of exuberance and awe.
Iranian cinema in general and this art-house masterpiece in particular prove that sometimes all you need to make a compelling motion picture is a heartfelt story - a chapter of a story, and a the right cast to embody it and narrate it.
And coming from the Middle East, no cinema is more relevant to me, my people, and my society, speaks to me touches my heart like Iranian cinema. The cinema of people and relationships, the cinema of realism.
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Available to watch on Netflix, and on Amazon Prime Video
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First published on LinkedIn as part of #hamzeh101.