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Director Asghar Farhadi discusses ‘A Separation’

THIS STORY APPEARED IN

January 22, 2012|By Christopher Wallenberg

Holding the award for best foreign film, Asghar Farhadi, director of A Separation,… (LUCY NICHOLSON/REUTERS )

NEW YORK - You’ll be hard pressed to find any villains, heroes, or easy answers in Asghar Farhadi’s Iranian drama “A Separation.’’ The film, which opens here on Friday, captured a Golden Globe award last Sunday and has been generating increasing heat as a front-runner in the Oscar race for best foreign language film.

As the film’s characters struggle to understand each other, everyone has their point of view. And all seem to be simultaneously right and wrong in equal measure, with each character’s behavior informed by various intrinsic factors, including age, gender, social class, education, and religious beliefs.

“When I’m making films, I try to not prejudge or take sides with any of the characters. But my message here is not to say, ‘Don’t judge.’ Judging is part of human life. But you should understand that judging is not simple or easy,’’ said Farhadi, 39, through a translator, a few days after “A Separation’’ premiered to rapturous applause at the New York Film Festival last fall.

“During the film, you might have a certain judgment in the beginning about some character, but then once your perspective changes, and you look at it from another angle, you’ll realize that it was not the correct judgment. For that reason, I try not to judge while I’m making the film; I only try to show different angles and different perspectives around a certain issue.’’

Audiences and critics have been raving about the film’s shifting perspectives ever since it began its awards march last winter, nabbing the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. Since then, the film has captured a host of year-end prizes.

Set in contemporary urban Iran, the film begins with a middle-class couple, Nader (Peyman Moadi) and Simin (Leila Hatami), arguing in front of a judge. Simin wants a divorce, not because Nader is a bad husband or father but because he refuses to leave the country with her to seek a better life for their daughter. Nader maintains he has to stay and look after his aging father, who has Alzheimer’s. The judge denies Simin’s request, and she angrily moves out of their apartment. With his wife gone, Nader hires a devout religious woman, Razieh (Sareh Bayat), to care for his father while he’s at work.

Before long, conflict erupts between Razieh and Nader. As the situation spirals out of control, they land before a judge, alongside Razieh’s hot-headed, sanctimonious husband, Hodjat (Shahab Hoseini), who is deep in debt to creditors and unaware that Razieh had taken a job. Simin reenters the picture, and the two families clash bitterly, with class resentments, politics, religious-secular tensions, and contrasting gender roles rising to the fore.