A Separation [Iranian]

Harish, Shekar and Karthick catch up earlier than planned to discuss on this masterpiece “A Separation” by Asghar Farhadi.

A Separation

Karthick: Mindblowing! Glued me to the Screen till the very end! Almost in tears! Now, I would say, this is story telling. Take my word, this film will be watched for decades. A lesson for every budding film maker.

Shekar: Hold! Hold! Leave some points for us director Saab!

Harish: Ha! Ha! Yes. Intensely moving drama. And the first Iranian film to win an Oscar.

Shekar: Yep. That’s fantastic. Given their limitations, this movie comes apart, stands to deliver the universal message of irrecoverable loss and unendurable pain associated with a separation and more so, especially in the case of a divorce.

Karthick: What a trailer man! The track that runs behind is unnerving yet so absorbing.

Here it goes – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2Sswx_vrWk

I got to know about this movie in a discussion and I watched the trailer. Just after I saw this conversation, I had no choice but to watch it.

Simin: He doesn’t even know you’re his son.

Nader: But I know he’s my father…

Why do you want a Divorce?

Shekar: Nadeer and Simin decide to apply for a divorce. Nadeer wants to stay back in Iran and take care of his father ailing from Alzheimer’s disease but Simin wants to leave abroad for better social circumstances. That is where it starts…

Karthick: Yep! A separation is all about conflicts. There is conflict between Nadeer and Simin, between Wife Vs Father, between better social circumstances Vs appropriate social circumstances, between religion and human concern, between wants of life vs necessities of life, between truth and lie

Shekar: Between brain and the heart…

Harish: That one sentence sums it all.. Brain does pose strong conflicts to every single moment yet, the heart is very clear. This is clearly brought out in the following scene. Nadeer’s father is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Essentially the brain is dead. Yet, when Simin decides to leave the family, the instinct reaches that man’s heart. When she bids good bye, he holds her hands and doesn’t let her go. I think this is it. That is the whole movie.

Nadeer with his father

Karthick: Bull’s eye. What a powerful scene. Yet, at the same time, there is a scene which brings out the optimism of Nadeer, our protagonist. When he is arrested in a circumstance, his right hand is tied with left hand of police personnel and when he rises his right hand to promise her daughter, he realizes that his hands are tied. Nadeer casually jokes with the police that why is he promising that too with the left hand?

Shekar: Instead of talking about the scenes, I would like to highlight that every scene is constructed in such a way that this conflict between belief and “what is true”? is repeatedly debated and understood. To sum it up, the conflict that develops as a divorce issue between Nadeer and Simin grows on to touch the lives of several others where each of the character is trapped in their fight between what is good and what is right..They fight, they cry, they fight again, they blame each other, they pray to god, they fight more, they curse each other, they seek justice, they search for truth yet never realize that it is them that they should change to win this war.

Karthick: Looking outwards, every thing seems wrong. All that they need to do is to look within, and correct themselves.

Harish: Yep. I would attribute and credit the director and writer for being able to bring it out with such lucidity. There is nothing much to review for every scene is a lesson. All we can do is point out what the director has said in his very own words…

It was in the theater that I learned how it is that you can work with actors. To give an example, I have a character in the film [A Separation (2011)] who’s supposed to be a religious woman. Once the script is finished, I didn’t find her and say ‘You’re going to be a religious character. This is what you should do’. In the few months remaining before shooting she would actually turn into a religious person. I asked her to pray promptly every day, meaning five times. I asked her to wear a chador which is the traditional long veil. I asked her not to use her personal car… to restrict her rapport with any men who were not known to her. And after a while of rehearsing this way she actually started to behave like a religious person. Don’t worry, as soon as the film is over, she turned back into her former self.

Pious

Classical tragedy was the war between good and evil. We wanted evil to be defeated and good to be victorious. But the battle in modern tragedy is between good and good. And no matter which side wins, we’ll still be heartbroken.

[on how Iran could consider submitting “A Separation” (2011), which deals with marital breakup in a Muslim family, for Oscar consideration] It’s not a discussion that’s linear – the government is this way, the people are that way. Within the government there’s diversity of thought and taste. Some among them are much more open-minded, others are very closed. Perhaps what you’re asking is, given the image that we have of the government which is so hard and full of censorship, how can you make such a film? That question would be like if you ask someone living in a desert, how is it that you can live, given the heat?

Anger on the world filled with injustice

Karthick: One last word, it would amount to being a sinner, if you didn’t watch this film.

Shekar: Wish I really could make a call to god to impose that rule.

Harish: Well! Well! Just watch it folks. Bottom line, there are far far far better movies made with good enough budgets. This is certainly one of them.These are movies with an undying spirit. At cubicle talkies, we hope to document our discussions about such movies.