Title: A Separation
Director and Writer: Asghar Farhadi
Stars: Peyman Moadi, Leila Hatami and Sareh Bayat
Released Year: 2011
Language: Persian (Subtitled in English)
Award-winning Iranian film "A Separation" was among nine movies on the shortlist for the Oscars' best foreign language film nominations announced on Wednesday, January 26.
"A Separation," which tells the story of a couple struggling with the decision of whether to leave their country, has won a slew of awards for the year's best foreign language film, including the Golden Globe, the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Society of Film Critics.
Hollywood has often criticized Tehran for stifling movie-making, but the acclaimed film "A Separation" is breathing life into Iran's hopes for a rare Oscar success.
Released in the United States on Friday after a year of award wins, Iranian director Asghar Farhadi's morally complex look at two contemporary Tehran families could earn Iran's first foreign language Oscar nomination since 1998.
"A Separation" began 2011 as the first Iranian movie ever to win the prestigious Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in February. It went on to win best foreign language film awards from the U.S. National Board of Review and New York Film Critics Circle, and a Golden Globe nomination.
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Farhadi told Reuters that recognition in the West had been gratifying and that he hoped the Oscar buzz will inspire filmmakers in other parts of the world.
"Under difficult conditions you can make films," he said. "If filmmakers from my country can make it to the Oscars, this can be an important message for other filmmakers."
If "A Separation" makes it to the foreign language Oscar short-list of five on January 26, it will be the first Iranian film to be nominated since "Children of Heaven" in 1998.
The film scored a rare 100 percent positive score on U.S. aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes this week, putting it among the best movies -- in any language -- of 2011.
Just three months ago, Hollywood organizations representing writers, directors, actors and the group that awards the Oscars, issued a sharply-worded statement lending their support to jailed Iranian filmmakers.
Those included the house arrest of director Jafar Panahi and the imprisonment of actress Marzieh Vafamehr.
Farhadi has managed to mostly avoid clashing with Iran's conservative censors with his specialty of character-driven dramas -- the type of movies that put family politics over state politics.
"On the one hand, when you've been born and raised there, you know inside yourself, without having to consciously think, you can go after this subject, can't go after the other," Farhadi told Reuters.
Escaping Censorship Gaze
He said filmmakers in Iran address prohibited subjects the way they always have -- in the form of subtext.
Despite his protests to the contrary, some critics say that is exactly what Farhadi does with "A Separation," a domestic drama about a couple, Nader (Peyman Maadi) and Simin (Leila Hatami), going through a divorce.
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"I don't think that this form of character development actually has an effect on the gaze of the censorship," Farhadi said. |
Living with his father, an Alzheimer's patient, Nader hires Razieh (Sareh Bayat) to look after the old man. In an altercation, Nader accuses Razieh of neglect and physically expels her from his home. She later suffers a miscarriage and, before a court, holds Nader responsible.
Many critics see the movie as a comment on class differences. Some see it as a critique of Iran's byzantine justice system. And others see it as a clash between modernity and tradition.
Farhadi prides himself on presenting audiences with questions instead of answers. In doing so, he said, "A Separation" offers few targets for censors to aim at.
"I don't think that this form of character development actually has an effect on the gaze of the censorship," Farhadi said.
But by gaining recognition on an international level, circumstances could easily change. Last year, while accepting an award for his previous film "About Elly," Farhadi expressed empathy for fellow filmmaker Panahi. That led to a two-week halt in production on "A Separation."
The reproach failed to chasten Farhadi. A few months later in Berlin he openly wished exiled actress, Golshifteh Farahani ("About Elly") could return to her homeland.
"I feel it's my duty to speak out," he said. "We're all part of a community."
Farhadi could be more vociferous on behalf of his colleagues but that would require self-exile. It's an option he has little interest in pursuing.
"For Iranian filmmakers, the conditions that exist notwithstanding, it's better to make their films in Iran," he said. "Because we know that culture, it's best to, as long as possible, work there."
While Farhadi believes the limitations he has grown used to can inspire greater creativity, eventually they have the opposite effect.
Nevertheless, he criticizes fellow Iranians who emphasize state censorship in order to promote their movies abroad, saying they are as morally culpable as the government officials who censor them.
Watch the trailer of "A Separation": |
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Iranian Government’s Comments
The Iranian government sounded a note of caution on Tuesday about the success of "A Separation" which won a Golden Globe for best foreign film, saying gritty realist films favored by critics showed a skewed version of the Islamic Republic.
While Iranian movie fans were thrilled to see director Asghar Farhadi receive the award from Madonna in a ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday, the Tehran government, which keeps a tight control on movie output, has shown less enthusiasm.
"You have always got to look at these festivals tactfully," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said when asked to comment on the movie which has also won the Berlin Film Festival's Golden Bear and is tipped for an Oscar.
| The added exposure from U.S. awards juries comes as relations between the United States and Iran are severely strained, with Iran saying it could close a major oil shipping lane if new sanctions block its crude exports -- something that would likely lead to a military stand-off. |
"Sometimes we see those who run these festivals grant precious awards to films whose main theme is centered on the poverty and hardships of a country's people.
"This should not lead our artists to ignore the glaring positive points and features of our nation and instead illustrate the kind of things welcomed by such festivals' organizers."
The added exposure from U.S. awards juries comes as relations between the United States and Iran are severely strained, with Iran saying it could close a major oil shipping lane if new sanctions block its crude exports -- something that would likely lead to a military stand-off.
"I just prefer to say something about my people. I think they are a truly peace-loving people," Farhadi said in an acceptance speech that pointedly lacked any overtly political message.
Javad Shamaghdari, Deputy Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance of Iran, congratulated Farhadi for the win, saying his movie had overcome anti-Iranian prejudice. "Wise judgment has put his movie on the podium of the chosen ones," he said in a statement carried by the ILNA news agency.
The movie's growing international profile is likely to renew concerns for film makers in Iran where scripts have to be submitted to Shamaghdari's ministry for approval and several high-profile directors have been arrested, jailed or banned.
In recent days, the government has closed the main Iranian film makers' association House of Cinema, a move criticized as political by the group's supporters.
Among the thousands of messages posted online by Iranians delighted by A Separation's win was one that said: "I am so proud of you, it was a proud moment for all Iranians. With this event we have really upset those who closed the House of Cinema."
A YouTube posting of the award presentation carried the message: "Too Bad this vid can't make it all the way over there," a reference to Iran's strict Internet censorship which clocks access to most western news sites.
Iranians can access banned sites like YouTube and Facebook by using VPN (virtual private network) software, but even that is something that may be put at risk by government plans to create its own version of the Internet in coming weeks or months that some people fear could further isolate the country.
Minister of Communications and Information Technology Reza Taqipour told Mehr news agency that Iran would not be disconnecting itself from the Web. "This National Information Network will under no circumstances be a replacement for the Internet," he said.
