Ari Siletz

Yana

There's definitely politics involved around this movie, though what's in the movie is just art addressing human issues (sociall issues included). And this politics suggests that what the Iranian government does includes factors other than the straightforward conservative vs. reformist vs. overthrow equation. There is international PR value in an Oscar that they can use to offset some of the negative campaign against the IRI.

Domestically, however, the IRI has paid the price for promoting this movie abroad. The film's success is a big boost for the protest movement. To see how, please check out this blog that I wrote about the film way before Oscars was in the picutre: khob che behtar.

To Ari....

I am happy that everyone is happy for this thing but I am wondering why that regim let this movie get here!  what is going on?  why are we all forgeting what happend couple of years a go with the green movement, why didn't Mr. Farhadi make a movie about Neda!

God Bless you

Maybe the best that I can

Maybe the best that I can take from this movie is neither focus on past nor on future alone. You can have both :)

Abarmard

Yes, as they say, all you need is love. Simin really was holding everything together all along. Another plus for Simin in the movie was how supportive her family was of Nader. Her mother helps bail Nader out of jail and takes his father into her home during his jail emergency, even as her daughter is locked in a custody battle with him. But you can also see where Simin gets the cold detachment that HFB noticed. In one scene Simin's mom defends/consoles Nader by saying "it's not like she [Razieh] can't have another baby!"  So practical, but heartlessly clannish.

Yana: We're excited about Iran's first Oscar, so we're celebrating.

Interesting movie

If Nader told Simin he loved her, the issue would have been resolved. In marriage the concept of winning a battle may take a turn to become a serious issue. It has to do with pride.

From the look of it and changes that the father got worse short after she left, without going into details you would know that Simin was taking care of everything and that's why the father wouldn't let go of Simin's hand and stop talking all together when she left. Simin wanted to know if he cared the same for her as he did for his father, which is silly and real at the same time. I believe it ended with the issue of love, which was dead between them and that was the problem.

Simin took care of problems and search result while Nader was emotionally bankrupted and in a dead end. Otherwise when he asked her daughter to let her mother know that she can come back, she just left with the daughter, which gets me to the ending:

My ending for the movie is that their kid chooses the mother. That's the most probable in situation like this where she also was embarassed to go back to her school....But that wasn’t the point of the story.

OMG, I can'f believe you guys, u must have no lives!!!!!

shad zee

MM

Not being able to complete a sentence is a sign of being struck with love at first sight. Don't understand why people try to use it as an insult. All it does is make women think you're a romantic. 

HFB

You're being too hard on poor Simin. She may lack the intense emotions of the others, but she has a practical mind and a logical approach to problems that no one else has. In one scene she tells Nader with no drama whatsoever that since he said it's all her fault, then she'll just fix it. Which she did...but then Nader had to ruin everything with his reckless pride.

Besides, Leila Hatami is too hot to be blamed for anything.

MPD

Just for you, here's an alternative happy ending. Nader suddenly decides to tell Simin he loves her and can't live without her. Simin says, "Oh Nader!" and they fall into each other's embrace (not allowed by censors, but the camera pans to a picture on the mantle of Ahmadinejad and Khamenei hugging). Turns out that the condition of  Nader's father was misdiagnosed. He didn't have alzheimers after all. Nader gets so angry at Iranian doctors that he decides to take the whole family to the U.S. so his father can get proper diagnosis and treatement. Final scene is in a U.S. shopping mall where the family (including the cured father) is shopping for shoes and suddenly the store owners turn out to be Razieh and Hojjat who had won the lottery and also moved to the U.S.

Song and dance during the credits crawl.

Orang

Then Asghar Farhadi must have suffered a lot :-)

جناب شراب سرخ

داستان کودکی یول برینر شما چقدر مرا خنداند. چرا بلاگ نکردید که این
داستان شیرین بیشتر خواننده داشته باشد؟ خاطرات کودکی در واکنش بنده به
اسکار "نادر و سیمین" نیز اثر داشت. یادم هست که فیلم‌هایی‌ مثل "بن هور،"
"اشک‌ها و لبخند ها،" "بانوی محبوب من"...یازده دوازده تا اسکار میبردن.
وقتی‌ اسکار رو تو دست اصغر فرهادی دیدم، ناخود آگاه به خود گفتم، "همش
یکی‌؟!" به امید آن روز که یک فیلم ایرانی‌ برای فیلم‌های رقیب اسکار
نگذارد.

Souri

The brilliant Farhadi has both of us exactly where he wants us: not knowing what we would do in the same situation. Paradoxically, his screenplay is--among other things--a standard tragedy where the character flaw in a hero is his undoing. The audience sees the flaw, but he doesn't, and this makes the audience want to jump into the film to slap sense into him. For example, Romeo's character flaw is his perpetual impulsiveness, and as you know his jumping to a wrong conclusion caused him to kill himself before he knew the facts. Similarly, Rostam's pride as a champion...

Nader's flaw in the tragedy of Separation is his stubborn refusal to ask Simin to stay. Their daughter, Termeh, urges him to do this at least twice, and Simin says as much in a brief soliloquy in her car. Why does he refuse? I think it is because he's mad at Simin because she does not see the situation exactly as he does. Nader doesn't understand that "wife" is not the same thing as "self."

siding with Nader

Simin was my least favorite character in the movie. Something very cold about both the character and the acting itself; at least to me. I just did not like her.

My favorite line of Nader, when Simin tells him his Dad doesn't even know him  (itself arguable, in the case of Alzheimer's) was: "Well, I know him."

Love of opportunity vs. Love of family, country, and roots. One of the choices was "colder" to me.

As for the rest of the film, most characters were sacrificing for "another" in this movie. That was part of its charm, and what makes it stand apart from the "me" culture, prevelent in much of the world. My favorite character was "Razieh" - she was sacrificing for so many people - from her husband who she was helping out, to crossing a busy street as a pregnant woman, to save the Alzheimer's ridden Dad, to not risking the bad Karma that could be inflicted on her daughter, should she "lie."

Oh - and the scene in the cobbler's workshop was very sad. I curse "sanctions" as the only thing that would help Iran is actually doing business with Iran. China moved dramatically forward, once it was invited into the WTO - World Trade Organization. Pinching that already depressed cobbler further, would simply make him smash more car windows.  

Back to Nader and Simin: maybe if  Simin was played with more warmth, I'd have seen her perspective, favoring "opportunity" for her daughter,better. LIfe isn't just about "opportunity" though, Love of country, Love of family, are incredibly important human needs, too. As for Nader - the actor, Peyman Moaadi's acting was priceless, in contrast - warm and full of passion.  

Unfortunately,

Another friend of mine is devastated upon watching this movie, despite all my advance warnings.  Yes, I do recommend to anyone I know to watch this movie, but I also try to prepare them for it, but over and over again it seems like people cannot handle the harsh reality of life on the big screen, hence our desire to scape reality when we go to the movies. 

Several times during the movie, and many times after I left the movie theater, I also wished for a better ending.

:-)

Bien vu

le génie nait de la souffrance.

Orang

...

در سالهای خیلی‌ دور،همان قبل از انقلابِ خودمان را می‌‌گویم،تنها چیزی که از اسکار می‌‌دانستم همان مطالبی‌ بود که در مجلاتِ سینمایی به چاپ می‌‌رسیدند و هر جمعه صبح سینما آستارا فقط فیلمهای خارجی‌ پشت سر هم نشان می‌‌داد و من شیفته مو طلائیها و هفت تیر کشی‌ یول براینر .. حتی یکبار سرم را طاس کرده و مثل او لباس پوشیدم اما تا به کوچه نرسیده خان بابا دندان قروچه کرد و تهدیدم کرد که آرتیست بازی جایی‌ در سلسله مراتبِ آدم حسابیها ندارد ،حالا تو حدس بزن در مملکتِ عمارتِ ما ..چه بلایی به سرم آوردند هنگامی که مجلات سپید و سیاهِ مرا با عکس‌هایِ مرلین مونرو و راکل ولش پیدا کردند ! ... از همان روز آرزوی دیدن یک اسکار برای یک فیلم ایرانی در افکارم چرخ میزد و مثلِ آپاراتِ قدیمی‌ صدا می‌‌کرد.

کاش فرهادی یادی از سینمایِ قدیمِ ایران نیز می‌‌کرد،این توقعِ زیادی نیست،با توجه به اینکه سینمایِ ایران از اوایلِ سالهایِ ۴۰ شمسی‌ تا به حال جوایز فراوان برده اما این خارجیان پدر سوخته آنچنان این هنرکده بزرگِ ما را نمیشناسند،حال تو ببین این روزها هندی‌ها و ترک‌ها و اعراب در چه بخل و حسدی به سر میبرند.آنقدر اخبار از این قبیل در دست دارم که دیگر حوصله‌ای برایم باقی‌ نمانده است.این روزها خواندن از سینما را دوست ندارم،بحثِ بدونِ یاد آوری از گذشته را هیچ به یاد ندارم.

این مقام،این حس ... مشهوریت را میگویم،نردبانی‌ لغزان است...خدا کند فرهادی محکم بدان بچسبد و آرام آرام بالا رفته و درجا نزند.

زنده باد سینمای ایران ...

اندک دل‌ نوشته‌ای پراکنده بود..

با سپاس از آری خان .

Ari - glad to see compete sentences. me not.

nice shooting.

Good one, Ari

Nice observation and honest reflection on the story of Nader and Simin.

Unfortunately  Narder's father has Alzheimer and can't think and speak like you did :)

The story of the movie, was very honest and true. I tried many times, to put myself in the same position as Simin. To be honest, I can't imagine, what would be my decision at that point?

Usually , I am very sensitive to the elderly. But also, I have a very big love and devotion to my children. This is a hard battle of heart to choose between the well being of the elders of the family or the younger ones. Forget about our own personal interests and desires . I can't tell you which one, Nader or Simin, is wrong and which one is right!