A Separation: A Tale of Human Desperation

A hopeful mother who is desperate to leave the country to give her family a better life. A dutiful son, desperate to serve his ailing father beyond all reason. A religious caregiver committed to the word of God, desperate to not cross her religious boundaries at the slightest. And an unemployed angry man desperate to prove that the world is out to get him. A Separation is the masterfully stitched tapestry of these characters that takes us through a gamut of emotions. As we see these characters trying to navigate an unsolvable equation, we can't decide who to root for. Who is right and who is wrong? Who is selfish and who is benevolent? Who is worse off than the other? It is a mirror of life itself. There is no one completely in the clear; we are all shades of grey.

Propelled by a solid script and brilliant cinematography, the film is fuelled further by its leads' memorable performances. Leila Hatami as Simin and Peyman Maadi as Nader are immaculate as a middle-class couple going through a difficult separation. They are separating because they want different things in life, not because of any significant interpersonal issues. The director is mindful of this and doesn't go any deeper to bring out potential other problems the couple might have been going through. She wants to migrate to a developed country to give her daughter a better life. He wants to stay in this country and look after his ailing father. There is no scope for reconciliation here. It will end in a divorce, and we are given no hope for this couple. Both the leads play their parts to perfection. Their fates are very different; Simin has hope – she may be able to take her family to a new country where they could lead better lives. This possibility brings a certain energy to her character. Her eyes are anxious throughout. Nader on the other hand is resigned to his hopeless destiny. He has chosen to stay with his ailing father; his visa will expire soon and he will never get the life that he once dreamed of, nor will he ever get his healthy father back. His eyes, consequently, reflect that doom. In one scene, he is bathing his father in the bathroom and breaks down inconsolably; overwhelmed by everything that is going on. His father will never even know the sacrifice his son made for him. It is heartbreaking.

However, in a film where all the actors played their part to near perfection, surprisingly I found the performances of the supporting actors more memorable than those of the leads. Sareh Bayat is brilliant as a devout Muslim woman serving as a caregiver for Nader's father. Her helplessness is pertinent and unsettling. It makes perfect sense – in the 21st-century modern world, it will be difficult for anyone to go about their daily routine without compromising their orthodox religious beliefs at every other opportunity. In order to support her family, she has to take up a job her faith forbids. Sareh portrays this state of constant ethical crises perfectly. Her husband, on the other hand, perfectly plays the role of a frustrated unemployed man. He believes the world is out to get him, and everyone is conspiring against him. Even when his near and dear ones reason with him, he is unable to see the rationality in their suggestions.  

Personally not a big fan of foreign Cinema, I try to stick to movies where is can grasp the language easily – Hindi and English. Even though subtitles have completely changed the viewing experience, I think you never truly understand the crux of a film until you understand the language spoken by the characters. It is very easy to miss the little things that are unique to all regional cinema. But once in a while, there comes a film that draws you in completely with its premise, screenplay and acting. The cinematography covers up for the dialogues that the viewer is not fully in-sync with. A Separation was such a movie for me; the last such movie was Parasite.

Unlike Parasite though, I don't think A Separation merits an open ending. In an otherwise flawless movie, perhaps the only complaint I have is the ending. While it is an interesting idea to leave the audience guessing which parent Termeh would choose to stay with after the divorce, I don't think anything concrete happens during the film which would make her change her stance from what it was at the start of the film. Perhaps familiarity had pushed her to pick her father, and her mother would have to convincingly prove the quality of life that awaits her in another country to change her mind. Unfortunately, nothing of the sort happens during the film.