Written and directed by Asghar Farhadi, A Separation is a powerful Iranian drama about a middle-class couple who are faced with a difficult decision – to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer’s disease. The tension between the couple is increased when the husband hires a lower-class caretaker for his elderly father leading to the separation foretold in the film’s title.

Like Farhadi’s last film, About Elly, which concerned the recriminations that followed a disappearance during a seaside retreat, A Separation is structured around absences: We typically see one less perspective than we need to have absolute certainty of what occurred, which – given what transpires – ultimately puts the viewer in the position of the divorce judge. The movie becomes a parable about the damage lies inflict on family and the impossibility of ascertaining truth.

“This powerful, complex Iranian drama centres on a conflict that cuts across boundaries of gender and class”. Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian.

“The actors, as sometimes happens, create those miracles that can endow a film with conviction.” Roger Ebert, Chicago Sunday Times.

“Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation is a sophisticated, superbly acted and wholly gripping portrait of modern Iran”. Sukhdev Sandhu, The Tegraph.