A Separation: Mystery, Lies, and the Quran

A film is not only about we see, it is very much about what we don’t see.  What we see unfold on screen is the plot, the bare minimum of what we need to be told in order to keep watching (or tolerate) the next two hours. The story is the entire universe that contains the film, of which the characters are getting up to all types of scheming and plotting and cheating while they are not in the scenes, which make up the screenplay. A good writer keeps all of these moments in his head and away from his audience, drip feeding them in order to pique their interest until time for the big reveal that will shock, surprise, makes us laugh or indeed, cry. What makes A Separation such a good film is what it doesn’t reveal.

Beginning with a flurry of anger, the opening scene depicts married couple Nader (Peyman Moaddi) and Simin (Leila Hatimi) in the courts descending into petty squabbling and rubber-stamping their divorce. Simin has decided she wants to leave the country and find a better life for her daughter, while Nader cannot bear to leave his Alzheimer stricken father behind, who can barely remember his son and on a good day will speak very sporadically. With only 40 days left until their travel visa is no longer valid, tensions reach boiling point and their divorce is finalized. What they don’t realise, is how much this action will cause a chain of events to unfold that stretches the family to breaking point.

That chain of events leads to a court case between Nader and a hired nanny Razieh, replacing Simin’s presence in the household but struggling to cope with the work as a result of her pregnancy and the religious quandary of having to undress and clothe a man, she doesn’t know if this violates her teaching of the Quran, and calls up a local cleric to ask permission. Her religion will become a cause of grief as the film wears on. When the elderly father is mistreated, there is an altercation, which ends in Razieh’s miscarriage, her irate husband going berserk and a second, tenser legal battle for Nader and Simin

The rest of the film unfolds as a stripped down and very primitive courtroom drama, the courtroom itself being a tiny box room filled with fury. Everyone’s recollection of events is different and everyone is adamant that someone else is to blame, which is compounded by some brilliant writing. Agshar Farhadi’s script establishes a very plausible incident, which could have caused Razieh’s miscarriage, but throws a huge amount of doubt into the situation. Nader accuses hot-tempered and unemployed Hodjat (Shahab Hosseini) of being unrestrained with his fists, which just causes the irate husband of Razieh to become even more hysterical.

The film bounces back between these two theories with minute detail and every revelation never manages to solve the mystery, including a brilliant scene in which Nader is on his doorstep with police, the plaintiff and the irate husband trying to physically show them that the incident could not have possibly caused her miscarriage, to a fruitless conclusion. The film never shows its hand to the audience, instead throwing around enough red herrings that we can never be sure if Nader caused the miscarriage. This is a great example of film making that gives us a mystery to solve, yet never gives us enough pieces to solve it, and the enjoyment comes from finding out an answer we didn’t expect.  Its reveal towards the end is surprising and shocking, and is a rare example of a scene where a Quran causes outright fear.

In between all this, A Separation is littered with touches, which provide some warmth in between the bitterness. The daughters of their respective families, teenager Termeh (Sarina Farhadi) and young, innocent Somayeh (Kimia Hosseini) provide a different perspective on the whole event. Termeh is unable to comprehend the divorce and the legal battle, as well as finding her view of the world shattered by the possibility that her dad might be lying. Somayeh is more of a comic relief, often breaking up some of the more sombre scenes with moments of welcomed slapstick in a film that is mostly grim.

Finally, while all this is going on, Nadar and Simin now have a new set of arguments to tear themselves apart. Their relationship can still be rescued but the chances become ever slimmer as the film wears on, much to the despair of their young daughter Termeh. A Separation is more than just a melodrama; it is film that is packed with mystery, lies and consequences where a father is forced to consider his own feelings and his pride against the feelings and concerns of others.