A Separation – Movie Review (DVD)

This year’s foreign language Oscar winner was A Separation, a movie about an Irani couple who is struggling with divorce.   Sometimes these kind of movies get lost in the bargain bin with other lesser movies being picked up by the bigger distribution companies.    We had to wait more than half a year to actually get the DVD version in our hands to make the review, but we finally got it.   A movie like this, that is totally spoken in another language is considered most of the time as an independent art film.   This is the kind of movie that wins in international festivals and is not for everyone, as many of you may think.   Once you get to see it you may think twice about this initial judgement as it isn’t as alternative as you may think it is.

Theme’s like this are not uncommon in hollywood, even some mexican movies manage to get a hold of this kind of stories.   A struggling couple that has their problems derived from another issue at hand, a husband that has to deal with his alzheimer suffering father.     This puts a lot of pressure on his wife who desperately wants to leave the country in search of better opportunities.   Her husband doesn’t want to leave his father behind so he won’t consent on leaving.    This brings several problems to the table as things get more and more complicated as the story transgresses.

What interested me the most, is the way all of the issues are presented.   Nobody is at a complete fault.   Everybody has a different point of view of things depending mostly on their own issues.     When the wife, Simin, leaves home, Nader, the husband has to hire a maid to take care of his dad, which makes things even more complex.  This woman, Razieh, has a lot of problems on her mind too, that get mixed in the game and make things even more difficult for our poor protagonist.  When things get more difficult we get to see their different point of views in the way of a bigger problem: death.

Overall, A Separation is a decent movie that makes you think, like most art oriented movies.    It makes you realize how points of view are so important in decision making.   Separating from your couple because you can’t deal with his personal problems may make you look selfish, but maybe that is not the kind of life you are willing to live in order to be happy.  I highly recommend checking this movie out.

SCORE 7.7 out of 10.0