A Separation
Director Farhadi asks the viewer to not just watch A Separation but to actively participate in it and make judgements on what they’re seeing and my god did it feel like an exercise to watch this movie but in the best way possible.
I don’t want to make a movie review all about me, but my grandfather was in a very similar mental state the last few years he was alive as the grandfather was in this movie and all throughout this I just couldn’t help but imagine the burden it would’ve been had me and my family lived through this in a country with a regime like Iran. Makes my stomach turn. On the one hand it really makes you appreciate the freedom and provision of your own country, but on the other hand it’s just gut wrenching to think so many people across the globe have to go through the same situation without any of the “luxuries” you have just because they weren’t lucky enough to have been born somewhere else.
A Separation is smart enough to never grant the viewer the luxury of a resolution. For a movie that is a lot of arguing, there was never a “winner” being crowned. It’s easy to just say “well just tell the truth and whatever should happen will happen and everything will be eventually be alright” but it’s just not as easy as that here. Unfortunately holding back information or perhaps even lying really are the last options left because in a country where the truth is this one-sided, you know it’s just not going to turn in your favor in any sort of way.
The same goes for moral dilemmas. The reason people didn’t side with each other wasn’t because they didn’t have any remorse for the opposing party, but because they just simply have no other choice then to do what’s right for their own lives.
The choice to end the movie at the point where it did really nailed it home for me. Ending your movie like that will inevitably upset a lot of viewers, so it’s incredibly daring to do so. After all of THIS we don’t even get one final sense of conclusion, to walk away with at least the tiniest semblance of a comforting thought at the end of it all? But I’d say it was the perfect choice. Again: there are no “winners” here and the movie never wants you for a second to think otherwise. You don’t get to relax because you’re trying to immerse yourself in an Iranian setting, where relaxing isn’t a luxury many people can afford.