A Separation - The movie

One word - Brilliant.

I had been wanting to watch Separation for a long time now. I was fascinated by the trailer of 'A Separation' that I came across while watching the movie Pina, the Germany's official entry to the oscar. 'A Separation' went ahead and won the Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film.

When the movie started playing in my neighbourhood 'Michigan Theatre', it gave one more reason for go ahead and watch the movie. I am in love with the historical Michigan Theatre in Ann Arbor. Established in January 5, 1928, Michigan Theatre is a piece of art in itself. Majestic hallways, personnel playing piano before the start of the movies, rustic seating and red velvet walkways makes it a fascinating place to watch the movies. I feel that I get transformed into a black gown wearing, stiff upper lip English Lady with a hand-held fan (black indeed) and a cigar to boot, when I walk down its aisles. Haha, there is no end to the possibilities while you are day-dreaming, right !

A separation tells us the story of a couple faced with a difficult situation in which wife wants to move abroad for a better future for their daughter and the husband wants to stay back in Iran to look after his father who suffers from Alzhemier's disease. How the couple deals with the situation along with several complications added onto it along the way forms the essence of the movie. One thing that struck me instantly was the brillant performances by all the protagonists. The vulnerability of the maid, the misguided anger of her husband, the precocious and innocent daughters; I loved all of them. The two kids in the movie were adorable; they said so much with their facial expressions that the dialogues were quite unnecessary. As the movie progresses, all the characters are faced with moral dilemmas and each one of them have to take decisions that allow them to live with their conscience.

One of the scenes that I particularly liked in the movie is where the wife is driving the car and is speaking to herself. She says "Ten years of marriage and he doesn't tell me once to stay, he doesn't tell no to the divorce". She says this inspite of the fact that she is the one who filed for the divorce, which makes me think as women, why are we constantly looking for validation of the love? validation of yourself? Guilty myself, that one scene gave me enough food for thought.

A Separation is one of the most brillantly made movies that I have watched recently. It is also my first iranian movie. Please give yourself a treat and do watch the movie. In the meanwhile, have you watched any other iranian movies? Do you have any suggestions for me?