Everyday People

A Separation--from Iranian director Asghar Farhadi--begins and ends with a two-shot, each with the same two characters. But while the first has them facing the same direction, side-by-side, it serves as a harbinger of the rupture that will eventually befall two separate families. They are directly facing the camera and, despite their opposing desires, are active and adamant in their stances. By that final shot though, they're simply waiting, the wear of the baggage accumulated through the course of the movie pushing them to either ends of the frame that might as well be a mile long.

The two characters are Nader and Simin, a married couple in Iran. Simin wants to leave the country to, among other things, make life safer for their daughter Termeh. Nader refuses to make the trek, citing his need to take care of his father, who is suffering from Alzheimer's. The couple separates--though the judge decides the matter doesn't warrant a divorce--and Simin moves in with her parents.

With Termeh at school and Nader working during the day, there is no one to care for his father. So he hires Razieh, a mother from a much poorer area to work as a sort of house nurse. Not only is her family in serious debt and her husband about to go to jail, she is in the somewhat early stages of pregnancy, a fact that has serious complications to what will soon transpire. And it's clear quite early that the job will pose trouble for her. She must drag her young daughter along for a bus ride that is so long it will consistently make her late. She's often frazzled and haggard. One day her daughter notices the open door and Razieh discovers Nader's father wandering the streets. The next day Nader returns home with Termeh to find the place completely empty. When Termeh opens her grandfather's door, she shockingly sees him on the floor unconscious and one arm tied to the bed.

When Razieh returns, Nader castigates her and accuses her of stealing money (which she didn't). He throws her out initially, but she returns--still in possession of a house key--pleading her case about the money and wanting to find out what happened to the father. This pushes Nader over the edge and in turn he struggles with Razieh and pushes her out of the door.

The movie smartly never lets us actually see what happens on the other side of that door. We only see the aftermath of Razieh getting up from the stairs, holding her back, and proceeding down the stairwell. But the next day, Simin receives a phone call from Razieh's sister-in-law notifying her that she had a miscarriage. The obvious suspicion of Nader's guilt gets him arrested and he must face a judge, along with Razieh and her husband Houjat, to plead his case.

Plot-wise, the bulk of the rest of the film revolves around the effect that Nader's shove of Razieh has on her miscarriage. Much is also made of the question if Nader even knew she was pregnant, a fact which he denied ever being told. There are a series of court appearances and witnesses. Houjat proves to be incredibly hot-tempered and nearly gets arrested for contempt of court. Much of what we are led to believe, it seems, falls on the side of Nader. There are even a couple of insinuations that Houjat's demeanor exhibits abusive behavior and that he might be the reason for his wife's miscarriage.

But while it's clear Razieh has been negligent in her own care, the movie subtly starts to shift the apparent burden of guilt on its characters and, before you know it, you start to recalibrate what you think is the truth. It is a deft piece of writing and directing by Farhadi. He slowly begins to plant the seeds of doubt in your head. And the doubt begins to permeate some of the characters in the film too. Termeh, especially, begins to wonder what she can and can't believe. In large measure, she's at the center of this drama. Her family is unraveling as steadily as the facts about the incident are unraveling. And through it, her loyalties are tested. She begins to actively question her father. Her parents' separation is forcing her to grow up quickly and she can see some of the writing on the wall.

It's all very simple really but with no simple answers. There's a lot of blame to go around; rather, everyone goes around blaming someone else. But each character is motivated by nothing other than pure survival. Nader just wants to take care of his father. Simin just wants to take care of her daughter. Termeh just wants to keep her family together. Razieh and Houjat just want to make ends meet. Yet while everyone spends a lot of time sitting in front of judges, the film itself refuses to let us do any judging.

There is a quiet intensity to A Separation and it is without question one of the finest movies of the year (it's two recent Academy Award nominations suggest as much). The weight of the world hangs on every scene yet Farhadi and his actors refuse to ascend to melodrama. Even the over-the-top outbursts by Houjat feel pitch-perfect. And in doing so, the movie never hits a false note, never cops out. Towards the end of the film, a character finally reveals to another a truth that sheds some light on what happened in Nader's doorway. But even that doesn't lead to easy conclusions. Of course it can't. The problems of everyday life always amount to more than a hill of beans.