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Open wounds of separation
12-Feb-2012
Iranians’ age-old wedding song serenades the promise of ‘living happily ever after’ with the words, “Let’s leave this country behind, you and I; you hold my hand and I grab your gown; Be blessed, God willing be blessed.” Most brides do not take this proposition literally. For them a short and memorable honeymoon will do. However, beyond the premise of marriage as a liberating journey away from family trammels, lies the Iranian cultural psyche of redeeming oneself through surrendering one’s worldly possessions in exchange for a better life in a barely knowable elsewhere. Since the Revolution millions of Iranians have left the country – some were compelled, others by choice. Today, an unknown number of malcontent or frightened urbanites contemplate following suit. ‘A Separation’ is the tale of two women: one intent on giving up her belonging, the other set on reclaiming hers.
Farhadi is a gifted author-cinematographer with a deep and admirable insight into his subject material. ‘A Separation’ is a masterfully arranged sequence of snapshots of moments in the life of proximately defined characters in an indeterminate span of time - time-lapse photography without the time stamp. Its characters appear familiar, but none has a résumé. Farhadi is mum about where these characters come from or where they are headed afterward. What he chooses to highlight are only those moments their lives intersect. As a result, his malleable and universally appealing characters are up for grabs by the viewer. He deliberately leaves to the viewer the task of reconstructing a convincing life story for every character, along with meaning and purpose – cinema by proxy, or a ruse to circumvent the censor? It is up to the viewer to imagine both a past and a prospect for each, as well as filling the gaps. And, filling the gaps the viewer does unconsciously. The authorship is shared, and the outcome is an enthusiastically received movie in Iran and abroad – its official entry for Oscar is just the icing on the cake.
‘A Separation’ is both modern and feminist. Farhadi’s endearing characters however, are neither. The film is modern in the way it takes responsibility off the shoulders of family, community, society, government, and foreign or supernatural powers, and smacks it squarely on the forehead of the individual – a cultural coup d’état for Iranians. In ‘A Separation’, it is the individual who makes – or, can make – bad choices, and it is mostly the individual who pays for the choices made – victimhood is discounted. The main themes of the movie are human’s fallibility and hazards of expediency; or, in Farhadi’s own words, the film is about “human agency” and its limitations. The three main characters are accidental dissemblers; the forth is a hapless opportunist; and the fifth is given “freedom” to choose only a part of the whole she is naturally entitled to – a theme reminiscent of Sophie’s choice.
It is also a uniquely feminist film. The only pro-active characters in the movie are two working women (Simin and Razieh) – they are the ones who take risk hoping to better their lot; the other character conferred with the prerogative of choice (Termeh) is also a woman in the making. The remaining characters (mostly adult men) are all passive/reactive type – content and complacent (e.g. Nader and his father) or irrational, emotional and close-minded (Hodjat), whose apparently predestined lives are not expected to change any time soon, unless by those women. More intriguingly, while on surface ‘A Separation’ is a movie about the dissolution of marriage between a man and a women (the Persian title), the underlying drama is about the socio-cultural divide between the two women - which comes to light when Razieh is hired to replace Simin in providing care for the elderly man, even though she clearly lacks the necessary qualification for performing the task she is hired for.
In their own ways, both women are rebels and taboo breakers. One, educated and well off, breaks her marriage and endangers the future of her daughter for the mirage of a haven abroad. The other, poor and pregnant, drags her young child across the city’s never-repaired south-north chasm, to work for a now-single man without her husband’s knowledge, let alone his consent. Understandably, the viewer may sympathize with one or both of these women. Their acts may be seen as forms of protest against the status quo (or in Simin’s words, “the conditions”). One may regard either or both as the harbinger of a future to come. However, defiant is not a synonym for modern. If it were, then every adolescent who puts his parental home behind, every worker who resigns from his/her job, every deserter who leaves the front, would be modern.
Farhadi is a play-by-play announcer of the on going game his characters play, who has prudently chosen to report very little about what is happening outside and beyond his arena. The viewer is left to measure the pulse of the surrounding environment from what is shown on the screen, or even speculate about the grander scheme of the things by his/her own whim. One can only guess what is awaiting these women. If Simin wins her custody fight, one can hope that she will take with them her sense of independence and determination. To succeed as a single mother in a foreign land she will need them both. One can also wonder whether Razieh will try again. One can be assured though, that there are many Raziehs around. There must be. The future of Iran and its 200-year-old modernity project depends on those who strive.
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I've bought the CD for $5 last summer
by Souri on Wed Feb 15, 2012 06:56 AM PSTSorry incognito, this is not about your good and great review (just a side note)
To the people who say " I haven't seen the movie, I wait for the day, it will be played somewhere"
I have bought the CD for $5 at the Persian shop, right around the corner. I am sure you can do this too, if you are interested.
Also, MM, had posted the link to the entire movie, in my blog about the movie's review.
Bests...
تو نیکی میکن و در دجله انداز که ایزد در خیابانت دهد باز!
Esfand AashenaTue Feb 14, 2012 04:50 AM PST
Bavafa jaan it's ok to watch the Separation on Youtube to avoid a major sin! However, just to be sure and cover all the bases, remember to donate something ($5 - $10 or so) to a charity of your choice, perhaps a museum, a homeless guy on the street, Salvation Army or whatever is closeby.
As we say in Farsi, to niki mikon o dar dajleh andaz ..., and don't think about it!
Everything is sacred
MM jan: Thank you for the heads up and the link...
by Bavafa on Mon Feb 13, 2012 05:18 PM PSTJust found it in Souri Khanom's blog and going to watch it tonight eagerly.
'Hambastegi' is the main key to victory
Mehrdad
Mehrdad
by MM on Mon Feb 13, 2012 03:32 PM PSTI posted a YouTube link to the full-length movie in Souri's blog on the movie. FYI
I have been waiting for to watch this movie...
by Bavafa on Mon Feb 13, 2012 02:22 PM PSTAnd looks like I have to wait even longer as it is not playing any where near where I am.
BTW Estfand jaan, you are not alone in your assessment of Mr. Bahmani's mind set. Just as GWB that essentially guaranteed all comedians job by providing ample material, Mr. Bahamni does so thru his often long and seemingly endless comments.
'Hambastegi' is the main key to victory
Mehrdad
Thanks Esfand jaan for the link
by Anahid Hojjati on Mon Feb 13, 2012 11:53 AM PSTNow this is a case of Aashe nadeede and Dahaane sokhte.
bahmani,
by incognito on Mon Feb 13, 2012 11:50 AM PSTI doubt that the success of ‘A Separation’, in particular
outside of Iran, has anything to do with the characters’ outfit, or whether or not this movie serves any particular propaganda. The universal appeal of this movie has much more to do with its familiar theme – a reviewer had compared it with Kramer vs. Kramer – than whether it’s for or against IR. So, allow me to skip your politics of dehumanization.
With regard to your wish for ‘Footnote’ winning the Oscar:
In ‘THE ENVELOPE’ insert of the Los Angeles Times (2/2/12), Glenn Whipp commented about the foreign-language nominees, “And the winner is… ‘A Separation.’ We’re aware that critical acclaim sometimes carries little weight in this category since, just last year even with Javier Bardem’s charismatic, Oscar-nominated turn, the manipulative ‘A Better World’ bested the high-profile ‘Biutiful.’ But the fact that Asghar Farhadi’s deeply involving masterwork also received a screenplay nomination seems a good indicator of broad support.
Unless… Many of the voters who love ‘A Separation’ haven’t seen all the other four nominated films in exhibition and thus, by academy’s rule, can’t cast a ballot here. That’s where spoilers come into play. Agnieszka Holland’s third Holocaust drama, ‘In Darkness’ fits the model and could well pull off an Oscar night upset that, given the category, wouldn’t really be all that shocking.”
So now you have it, or will have it. In Hollywood, “the model” has a home-court advantage.
Anahid jaan not watching Separation is registered as a big sin!
by Esfand Aashena on Mon Feb 13, 2012 11:29 AM PSTWhen we go to the after life we can use discounts and coupons on our sins and sometimes when they add the total we may end up with more good than sins and then we can go to heaven!
However, the major sins or as we say in Farsi (gonah kabireh) cannot use discount coupons! So that is an automatic way to you know where!
You can go to this website and click your zipcode and find the nearest movie theatre. The link I provided is for San Francisco area.
You have 2 weeks to get a coupon for the next life! Oh and don't forget the Komail Oscar Pray!
Everything is sacred
Esfand Jaan
by Anahid Hojjati on Mon Feb 13, 2012 11:18 AM PSTI don't know about separation. I have not watched it but have read many reviews of it. I am more interested to watch "Artist". Sometimes I like the Art to take me to another world, world of imagination. I want it to be "khialangeez".
Anahid jaan dashtim?!
by Esfand Aashena on Mon Feb 13, 2012 11:10 AM PSTHe probably doesn't respond to me because he doesn't find me worthy! That's better for me since I don't want a tit for tat back and forth. He made his point and I made mine.
I think on Separation he is just focused on being against what everyone is for. "Very original" in i.com of all places!
Everything is sacred
Sometimes I think
by Anahid Hojjati on Mon Feb 13, 2012 11:07 AM PSTwhat if Esfand is another user Id for Bruce Bahmani, the way Esfand is always mercilessly criticizes Bahmani and I don't think that i ever saw Bahmani respond.
Everybody Loves Raymond but dislikes Bahmani!
by Esfand Aashena on Mon Feb 13, 2012 10:58 AM PSTIf you were to read too much into Bahmani's reviews and jabs at Separation you would think he must be some abstract art loving critic.
To put things in perspective he has written an Eargasm (yes that is the title of his article) about the best Iranian band in the world. Now who would that be? What tickles his fancy and gives him "eargasm" among other gasms? KIOSK!
Now Kiosk is good but how many would consider Kiosk the best of Iranian music? How many even know or have heard of Kiosk? How many concerts have Kiosk sold out? In what venues? Concerts in Shamshiri Restaurant?!
So it is with this mindset that Mr. Bahmani thinks that Separation is:
1. a rip-off of divorce Iranian style
2. Islamic Republic will celebrate the Oscar win as a win and vindication for Islam
and most importantly:
3. Western audiences will take away from the movie "the Iranian wife will prefer and like and love to wear the hejab."
Yeah sure!
Everything is sacred
Ari,
by incognito on Mon Feb 13, 2012 10:41 AM PSTI saw this movie for the second time, the other night, just to make sure I had not missed any scene that might contradict what I wrote in this review. I noticed a few important moments in the film that I had overlooked in the first view. Fortunately however, none invalidated my earlier interpretation. I highly recommend seeing this movie once again.
All I see in Separation is willing Hejab
by bahmani on Mon Feb 13, 2012 10:39 AM PSTAll I see in "Separation" is a not so subtle rip off of "Divorce Iranian Style" combined with the tacit sanctioned and religiously approved propaganda of Islamic Iran who will no doubt celebrate the Oscar as a victory of Islam, and example of how if given a chance, Islam can win over the hearts and minds of even the most jaded in the West.
Western audiences, will no doubt be influenced by the main subliminal message of the film, which is that an Iranian husband and wife, even in a closed room, the Iranian wife will prefer and like and love to wear the hejab.
Because as everyone will soon incorrectly conclude, Iranian women have a long and proud tradition of wearing the hejab, and it is not anything to really worry about outside Iran. Certainly Iranian women (as this film suggests) do not appear to be complaining (other than like any other normal bad marriage) or under the slightest institutional duress, or state-imposed patriarchal oppression, and they look like (in the film) that they kind of love being under the rule of men, and cannot conceive of living any other way.
So why bother helping them?
Look how she stands up to her husband and is actually fighting back for her right to be a happy wife! What a wonderful empowering film!
Meanwhile... we all know the ugly truth. Bus and restaurant seating, legal rights, estate rights, work and labor rights...
Although I don't pray, every morning, I wake up and pray to God, Allah, Buddha, the Sun, Fire, the Aztecs and Incas, that if there ever was a time for an Israeli conspiracy, and the myth that American Jews control Hollywood, now is the time for one, just to prove Islam and the hejab wrong. For once.
So I will hope the damnable, that we will hear the words, "And the Oscar goes to... Footnote!"
Sorry, this sounds so bad, I know, but you have to consider everything these days, including and especially TRUTH, not just blind yourself with national pride.
This is neither the Iranian way, nor ANY way to win an Oscar.
To read more bahmani posts visit: //brucebahmani.blogspot.com/
Good review!
by Ari Siletz on Sun Feb 12, 2012 03:37 PM PSTDeep engagement of the writer with the subject makes you want to see the film and argue the points that have been raised.