About Elly (2015)
92%RT Audience Score: 84%
Awards & Nominations: 20 wins & 13 nominations
About Elly offers viewers performances as powerful as its thought-provoking ideas, and adds another strong entry to Asghar Farhadi’s impressive filmography.
Darbareye Elly” is a film that will keep you on the edge of your seat, but don’t worry if you miss a detail or two – you’ll still be blown away by the intricate plot and well-defined characters. Farhadi’s ability to explore a wide variety of situations is truly impressive, and the cast of performers is flawless. Plus, there’s a gentle whisper of political critique that adds an extra layer of depth to the story. It’s like “L’avventura” meets a psychological, political, cultural explosion – but with more heart and compassion. Don’t miss it!
Production Company(ies)
Tokuma Japan Communications, Studio Ghibli, Nibariki
Distributor
NA
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
Tonekabon, Mazandaran, Iran
MPAA / Certificate
TV-PG
Year of Release
2009
-
Color:Color
-
Sound mix:Dolby Digital
-
Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
-
Runtime:NA
-
Language(s):Persian, German
-
Country of origin:United States
-
Release date:Release Date (Streaming): Aug 25, 2015
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Golshifteh Farahani, Shahab Hosseini, Taraneh Alidoosti, Merila Zare’i, Mani Haghighi, Peyman Moaadi, directed by Asghar Farhadi, written by Asghar Farhadi, Azad Jafarian, drama, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Kenneth Turan, Tom Long, Walter V Addiego, Michael Phillips, Tirdad Derakhshani, Peter Keough, Brian Eggert, Patrick Gamble, Kaleem Aftab, Charles Mudede, Sean Axmaker, MPAA rating, producer Asghar Farhadi, Simaye Mehr, Mahmoud Razavi, Persian language, mystery, social drama, friendships, marriages, philosophy, morality tale, cultural commentary, northern Iran, disappearance, potential suitor, performances, thought-provoking ideas, intricate plotting, well-defined characters, honest, powerful, intriguing, emotional depth, tension, compassionate, riveting
Worldwide gross: $879,422
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $1,215,459
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,552
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 132,547
US/Canada gross: $470,760
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $650,642
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,274
US/Canada opening weekend: $13,180
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $18,216
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,543
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Shahab Hosseini – Ahmad
Taraneh Alidoosti – Elly
Merila Zare’i – Shohreh
Mani Haghighi – Amir
Peyman Moaadi – Peyman
Director(s)
Asghar Farhadi
Writer(s)
Asghar Farhadi, Azad Jafarian
Producer(s)
Asghar Farhadi, Simaye Mehr, Mahmoud Razavi
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
20 wins & 13 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (71) | Top Critics (33) | Fresh (70) | Rotten (1)
Farhadi has written a first-rate script, enabling intricate plotting to intertwine with well-defined characters, and “About Elly” shows him at ease with the wide variety of situations his writing explores.
July 9, 2015
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
TOP CRITIC
By the time the mystery is solved, it hardly seems to matter. What matters is the casual lack of honesty that almost everyone seems to depend on.
June 26, 2015 | Rating: A
Tom Long
Detroit News
TOP CRITIC
It’s an incisive portrait of a particular society, but it should resonate everywhere.
May 20, 2015 | Rating: 3/4
Walter V. Addiego
San Francisco Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
There are no false notes anywhere in this cast of performers.
May 7, 2015 | Rating: 3/4
Michael Phillips
Chicago Tribune
TOP CRITIC
Always, murmuring just beneath the surface, there’s a political undercurrent to Farhadi’s films, a gentle whisper of a critique aimed at the weight of Iran’s combined cultural and political intransigence.
May 7, 2015 | Rating: 3.5/4
Tirdad Derakhshani
Philadelphia Inquirer
TOP CRITIC
It is perhaps Farhadi’s richest, most complex and ambitious.
May 7, 2015 | Rating: 3.5/4
Peter Keough
Boston Globe
TOP CRITIC
Farhadi peels back layer after layer of the story to heighten the dramatic stakes, gradually revealing his cultural commentary.
February 20, 2022 | Rating: 3.5/4
Brian Eggert
Deep Focus Review
Farhadi once again reveals himself to be a master of the morality tale, beautiful presenting a series of encounters in which each character is morally and ethically questioned.
February 2, 2019 | Rating: 4/5
Patrick Gamble
CineVue
This is a tale of great emotional depth with intriguing philosophical discussions about the nature of despair, the value of individual choice and deception.
November 1, 2018
Kaleem Aftab
The National (UAE)
Simple, elegant, and yet incredibly complicated and tense. The action, the bombs, and the drama are all in the details. If you do not catch every word, change of tone, and glance, you’ll miss a huge psychological, political, cultural explosion.
August 28, 2018
Charles Mudede
The Stranger (Seattle, WA)
The set-up recalls Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’avventura but this mystery becomes a vehicle for social drama and sharp observations of friendships and marriages under pressure.
February 12, 2016
Sean Axmaker
Seanax.com
Clever, compassionate, and completely riveting.
January 2, 2016
Jonathan Kiefer
SF Weekly…
Plot
A young teacher disappears before being introduced to a potential suitor in northern Iran, leading to a complex and thought-provoking exploration of societal norms and honesty in Asghar Farhadi’s drama “About Elly.”
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Golshifteh Farahani, who plays Sepideh in the film, was banned from returning to her home country of Iran after appearing in a Hollywood film.
Asghar-Farhadi.jpg
