This won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 2017. Its director and script writer Asghar Farhadi is celebrated throughout the world as a great talent. I can see why. He's original and he gets great performances from his actors. Nonetheless I had to force myself to stay with this. It was so depressing in a most annoying way. The fear and the nearly all-consuming self-loathing that Rana (Taraneh Alidoosti) experiences after being assaulted in her own bathroom is in part culturally based, as is the plot of her husband Emad (Shahab Hosseini) for a secretive revenge.
Rana's fear is real because she doesn't know who assaulted her, and part of her shame is understandable since she carelessly opened her door of their apartment without knowing for sure who was coming up. But a significant part of her shame is because the more conservative interpretations of Islam (and other tribal religions as well, by the way) blame the woman if she is raped. This complexity of emotions is part of what no doubt fascinated many viewers.
But I stayed with the movie, or actually I returned to it the next day. I was surprised at the resolution; I was surprised at Emad's sense of guilt. Yes, a man should be there to protect his wife, and perhaps if had been quicker at the market nothing would have happened. And perhaps there is guilt because he didn't investigate the circumstances of the apartment rental more thoroughly. (Apparently the previous tenant was a prostitute.) So in a sense they moved into a house of prostitution, as it were. And it is not beside the point to realize that Emad is playing Willie Lohman in a small theatre production of Arthur Miller's acclaimed play, "The Death of a Salesman," a character who is ashamed because he sees himself as a failure.
Again we can see the complexities that Farhadi insists upon.
Okay here are my problems with the movie. First though I should say that viewers who are not Iranian and not Muslim including myself may very well miss some of the subtleties and preconceptions of the action.
1. Why the ambiguity about the rape? Or maybe it was clear and I wasn't able to discern that.
2. Why is the guilty party a character who almost certainly could not commit the rape? (He could barely get up the stairs.)
3. We know why Emad and Rana don't go to the police. (Only shame will result possibly without ever catching the perp.) However Emad's revenge plan of humiliating the assailant seems elaborate and slow to action. After all Emad has overwhelming evidence as to who did it. He just has to find him.
4. The culprit's truck just sits there and then they move it. Is would seem that best strategy would be to report the truck as being parked illegally (do that yourself if necessary since you have the keys), call the police and see who shows up.
But again I don't live in Tehran so I really don't know what would have been the best way to proceed. What I do know is that Farhadi might have guided the general viewer less opaquely.
Bottom line: definitely worth seeing, but I suspect Farhadi's "A Separation" (2011) which I haven't seen is a better film.
--Dennis Littrell, author of the movie review book, "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote"
Rana's fear is real because she doesn't know who assaulted her, and part of her shame is understandable since she carelessly opened her door of their apartment without knowing for sure who was coming up. But a significant part of her shame is because the more conservative interpretations of Islam (and other tribal religions as well, by the way) blame the woman if she is raped. This complexity of emotions is part of what no doubt fascinated many viewers.
But I stayed with the movie, or actually I returned to it the next day. I was surprised at the resolution; I was surprised at Emad's sense of guilt. Yes, a man should be there to protect his wife, and perhaps if had been quicker at the market nothing would have happened. And perhaps there is guilt because he didn't investigate the circumstances of the apartment rental more thoroughly. (Apparently the previous tenant was a prostitute.) So in a sense they moved into a house of prostitution, as it were. And it is not beside the point to realize that Emad is playing Willie Lohman in a small theatre production of Arthur Miller's acclaimed play, "The Death of a Salesman," a character who is ashamed because he sees himself as a failure.
Again we can see the complexities that Farhadi insists upon.
Okay here are my problems with the movie. First though I should say that viewers who are not Iranian and not Muslim including myself may very well miss some of the subtleties and preconceptions of the action.
1. Why the ambiguity about the rape? Or maybe it was clear and I wasn't able to discern that.
2. Why is the guilty party a character who almost certainly could not commit the rape? (He could barely get up the stairs.)
3. We know why Emad and Rana don't go to the police. (Only shame will result possibly without ever catching the perp.) However Emad's revenge plan of humiliating the assailant seems elaborate and slow to action. After all Emad has overwhelming evidence as to who did it. He just has to find him.
4. The culprit's truck just sits there and then they move it. Is would seem that best strategy would be to report the truck as being parked illegally (do that yourself if necessary since you have the keys), call the police and see who shows up.
But again I don't live in Tehran so I really don't know what would have been the best way to proceed. What I do know is that Farhadi might have guided the general viewer less opaquely.
Bottom line: definitely worth seeing, but I suspect Farhadi's "A Separation" (2011) which I haven't seen is a better film.
--Dennis Littrell, author of the movie review book, "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote"