Emotional journey: Islooites enjoy Iranian masterpiece
Award-winning relationship drama ‘A Separation’ screened at SAFMA.
A scene from the academy award-winning film. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
Justice, class differences and gender issues all come together to form a powerful legal and family drama in the award-winning Iranian film “A Separation.”
The film, which won the 2012 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, was screened for cinephiles by the South Asian Free Media Association (Safma) on Friday.
Written and directed by Asghar Farhadi, the movie looks at the deteriorating marriage of Nader and Simin, a middle-class couple who are on the verge of separation at the beginning of the movie. But the plot is complex and characters introduced in the couple’s life through their 11-year-daughter and Nader’s father, who suffers from Alzheimers, pummel the storyline in unexpected directions.
As Simin moves out of her husband’s house, Nader is forced to hire a woman, Razieh, to care for his ailing father. Razieh struggles with her duty because she is pregnant, a fact she has not directly disclosed to his employer. Nader is dissatisfied with Razieh’s work and eventually a physical confrontation between them leads to what seems like a miscarriage for Razieh.
What follows is a courtroom drama where Razieh’s hot-headed, unemployed working-class husband and Nader both take up opposite positions. Nader falsely claims he did not know about Razieh’s pregnancy and Hodjat blames Nader of killing their unborn baby.
Viewers get a glimpse of the Iranian judicial system as a judge painstakingly listens to the two parties, trying to establish the truth from the lies. The spontaneity of the dialogues between the judge and both parties is commendable as Hodjat berates the system to be against the common man and Nader tries to escape any potential punishment. The gender angle is depicted well as women of the two parties seem to understand the obstinate struggle their husbands have engaged in.
In the thick of this drama is Nader and Simin’s daughter, Temreh, trying to keep the family together while dealing with the emotional trauma of her parents’ potential divorce.
The conflict’s resolution seems to be directly linked with the guilt of the characters, especially Razieh.
Dr Ijaz Hussain, former dean of the Quaid-i-Azam University, said the thing that struck him most was how the conflict was based upon two lies. “Interestingly, the resolution of the moral dilemma that arose from those two lies was also brought about by the truth,” Hussain said.
Commenting on the film, some people were of the opinion that the movie showed the pervasiveness of class differences across cultures.
Others appreciated that screenings of non-Hollywood foreign-language films is a good initiative as they allow people to appreciate diversity by understanding the similarities and differences of other societies.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 21st, 2013.
Justice, class differences and gender issues all come together to form a powerful legal and family drama in the award-winning Iranian film “A Separation.”
The film, which won the 2012 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, was screened for cinephiles by the South Asian Free Media Association (Safma) on Friday.
Written and directed by Asghar Farhadi, the movie looks at the deteriorating marriage of Nader and Simin, a middle-class couple who are on the verge of separation at the beginning of the movie. But the plot is complex and characters introduced in the couple’s life through their 11-year-daughter and Nader’s father, who suffers from Alzheimers, pummel the storyline in unexpected directions.
As Simin moves out of her husband’s house, Nader is forced to hire a woman, Razieh, to care for his ailing father. Razieh struggles with her duty because she is pregnant, a fact she has not directly disclosed to his employer. Nader is dissatisfied with Razieh’s work and eventually a physical confrontation between them leads to what seems like a miscarriage for Razieh.
What follows is a courtroom drama where Razieh’s hot-headed, unemployed working-class husband and Nader both take up opposite positions. Nader falsely claims he did not know about Razieh’s pregnancy and Hodjat blames Nader of killing their unborn baby.
Viewers get a glimpse of the Iranian judicial system as a judge painstakingly listens to the two parties, trying to establish the truth from the lies. The spontaneity of the dialogues between the judge and both parties is commendable as Hodjat berates the system to be against the common man and Nader tries to escape any potential punishment. The gender angle is depicted well as women of the two parties seem to understand the obstinate struggle their husbands have engaged in.
In the thick of this drama is Nader and Simin’s daughter, Temreh, trying to keep the family together while dealing with the emotional trauma of her parents’ potential divorce.
The conflict’s resolution seems to be directly linked with the guilt of the characters, especially Razieh.
Dr Ijaz Hussain, former dean of the Quaid-i-Azam University, said the thing that struck him most was how the conflict was based upon two lies. “Interestingly, the resolution of the moral dilemma that arose from those two lies was also brought about by the truth,” Hussain said.
Commenting on the film, some people were of the opinion that the movie showed the pervasiveness of class differences across cultures.
Others appreciated that screenings of non-Hollywood foreign-language films is a good initiative as they allow people to appreciate diversity by understanding the similarities and differences of other societies.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 21st, 2013.