Maybe for the first time all year, you’ve got enough free time to get out and see a movie. Over the break, we’ll provide occasional “quick takes” on movies we’ve seen, briefly covering what we liked, what we didn’t like, and whether it’s worth your time and money. Today: A Separation.
A Separation, spoken in Farsi and subtitled in English, follows husband Naader (Peyman Mooadi) and wife Simin (Leila Hatami) as they fight for custody rights of their eleven-year-old daughter Termeh (Sarina Farhadi). While Simin wishes to raise Termeh abroad, Naader insists he stay behind in Tehran, Iran to care for his 90-something bedridden father suffering from dementia. When the court refuses to grant Simin custody, she leaves for her parents' place and Naader hires a maid named Razieh (Sareh Bayat) to take care of Termeh and his father in Simin's place. However, when Naader begins to suspect that Razieh has been neglecting his father and stealing from the house, a huge fight erupts.
What started out as a film about divorce soon turns into an intricate web of 'he said, she said', finger pointing, and white lies when Razieh is soon after admitted to the hospital and Naader is charged with murder. The rest of the film follows Naader as he desperately tries to prove his innocence in a situation where he's not entirely sure that he's actually innocent.
