A Separation (2011)
96%RT Audience Score: 92%
Awards & Nominations: Won 1 Oscar
89 wins & 50 nominations total
Morally complex, suspenseful, and consistently involving, A Separation captures the messiness of a dissolving relationship with keen insight and searing intensity.
A Separation is one heck of a movie! It’s got everything you could want – drama, suspense, and a whole lot of moral complexity. The way it portrays a relationship falling apart is so real and raw, it’s almost uncomfortable to watch. But you can’t look away! The intensity is off the charts. This movie really captures the messiness of a breakup, and it does it with such insight that you’ll be thinking about it for days. Trust me, you won’t regret watching A Separation.
Production Company(ies)
Asghar Farhadi Productions, Dreamlab Films, MPAAPSA Academy Film Fund,
Distributor
Sony Pictures Classics
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Tehran, Iran
MPAA / Certificate
Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material
Year of Release
2011
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:2h 3m
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Language(s):Persian
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Country of origin:Iran
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Dec 30, 2011 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 21, 2012
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Payman Maadi, Leila Hatami, Sareh Bayat, Shahab Hosseini, Merila Zare’i, Babak Karimi, directed by Asghar Farhadi, written by Asghar Farhadi, drama, PG-13, box office gross $331.7K, reviewed by David Thomson, Jon Frosch, Stephanie Zacharek, Tom Long, Joe Williams, Lisa Kennedy, Brian Eggert, David Bax, MPAA rating, producer Asghar Farhadi, Iranian film, divorce, family drama, legal system, morality play, class conflict, truth, communication, marriage, religion, societal relevance, disintegrating relationship, messiness, suspenseful, searing intensity, morally complex, consistently involving, keen insight, critically acclaimed
Worldwide gross: $22,926,076
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $30,182,130
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,548
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 3,291,399
US/Canada gross: $7,099,055
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $9,345,891
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,631
US/Canada opening weekend: $59,481
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $78,307
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,035
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $500,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $658,249
Production budget ranking: 2,104
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $354,467
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $29,169,414
ROI to date (est.): 2,880%
ROI ranking: 36
Leila Hatami – Simin
Sareh Bayat – Razieh
Shahab Hosseini – Hodjat
Merila Zare’i – Miss Ghahraii
Babak Karimi – Interrogator
Asghar Farhadi – Director/Producer/Writer
Director(s)
Asghar Farhadi
Writer(s)
Asghar Farhadi
Producer(s)
Asghar Farhadi
Film Festivals
Berlin, Telluride
Awards & Nominations
Won 1 Oscar
89 wins & 50 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Best Foreign Language Film of the Year Winners, Oscar Best International Feature Film Of The Year Winners, Oscar Nominees, Oscar Winners
All Critics (179) | Top Critics (61) | Fresh (178) | Rotten (1)
You cannot watch the film without feeling kinship with the characters and admitting their decency as well as their mistakes.
June 19, 2013
David Thomson
The New Republic
TOP CRITIC
Dynamically shot and paced like a thriller, the film has the density and moral prickliness of a good novel.
March 7, 2012
Jon Frosch
The Atlantic
TOP CRITIC
Nothing earth-shattering happens in A Separation, but the straightforwardness of this view of a disintegrating marriage, set in the context of complicated cultural and religious mors, is dramatic by itself.
March 6, 2012 | Rating: 8.5/10
Stephanie Zacharek
Movieline
TOP CRITIC
These people seem so real they might live next door. And they probably do.
February 23, 2012 | Rating: A+
Tom Long
Detroit News
TOP CRITIC
“A Separation” is a plaintive fable of the human condition that unites us.
February 17, 2012 | Rating: 3.5/4
Joe Williams
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
TOP CRITIC
Very few movies capture as convincingly as A Separation does the ways in which seemingly honorable decisions can lead to interpersonal conflict — even disaster.
February 10, 2012 | Rating: 3.5/4
Lisa Kennedy
Denver Post
TOP CRITIC
A Separation stimulates discussion about how the characters behave and how we feel about their choices.
February 21, 2022 | Rating: 4/4
Brian Eggert
Deep Focus Review
A Separation is an educational and sympathetic inside look at the way things work in Iran…
March 22, 2021
David Bax
Battleship Pretension
A Separation provides one of the few glimpses that Americans and others in the West will have into the reality of Iranian life.
February 12, 2021
David Walsh
World Socialist Web Site
Rarely are family dramas as thematically or structurally complex as A Separation. Pair that with the fact that it is very well acted and intelligently photographed, and you have an extraordinary film.
November 18, 2020
Jordan M. Smith
IONCINEMA.com
The beauty of A Separation, and what one can only hope will help sell it to American audiences, is the universality of its themes, messages and conflicts.
September 1, 2020 | Rating: 3.5/4.0
Richard Propes
TheIndependentCritic.com
A stressful watch but worthwhile look at 2 marriages in Iran
August 12, 2020
Rachel Wagner
Rachel’s Reviews (YouTube)…
Plot
Nader (Payman Maadi) and Simin (Leila Hatami) argue about living abroad. Simin prefers to live abroad to provide better opportunities for their only daughter, Termeh. However, Nader refuses to go because he thinks he must stay in Iran and take care of his father (Ali-Asghar Shahbazi), who suffers from Alzheimers. However, Simin is determined to get a divorce and leave the country with her daughter.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
The cast and crew of A Separation are all Iranian, with director Asghar Farhadi being one of the most acclaimed filmmakers in the country.
Asghar-Farhadi.jpg
