After watching this movie, I was left speechless with a heavy feeling in my stomach. This kind of feeling doesn’t happen often.
This movie begins with the divorce trial of a middleclass Iranian couple. The wife Simin, thinking about the future prospects of her 11-year-old Termeh, wishes to leave the country after finally getting a visa with great difficulty. However, the husband Nader can’t leave his father who has Alzheimer’s behind, so the couple decides to file for a divorce. The couple fights over who gets custody of their daughter and during this time, Simin returns to her parents’ home.
Simin hires her friend’s little sister Razieh, a working-class woman, as a helper, but Razieh ties Nader’s father to his bed and goes out. When Nader discovers his father, he is enraged and forcibly throws Razieh out of his house. Later that night, he finds out that Razieh has a miscarriage. Hodjat—Razieh’s husband who was released from prison, has a short temper, and is violent—accuses Nader of murder and threatens Nader’s family and the female teacher who testifies for Nader in court.
Two stories are developed throughout this movie—one between Simin and Nader fighting over custody in the divorce courtroom, and the other between two couples of different social class and religious intensity. This movie has a splendid story and you can’t even take a short break as the suspense captures you from the beginning until the end. To say it briefly, this story is one that could happen to anybody, but the mystery solving component is very well made. While Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan has perfect cinematography, experienced Iranian movie screenwriter Asghar Farhadi is a perfect storyteller. However, the true splendor of this movie is the profound message hidden in the plot.
Asghar Farhadi’s style, in short, places a certain amount of trust in the audience. A lot of Hollywood movies have an obvious “good guy” and “bad guy” and the plot just ends with a happy ending. The director here doesn’t spoon-feed the viewer exactly what to think in this movie. It is unclear to the viewer whether Nader settles out of court with Hodjat or is sent to prison, or what truly caused the miscarriage. The choice of parental authority comes down to Termeh, but we don’t know what she chooses. Also, we aren’t given the whole explanation of whether Razieh truly tried to steal Nader’s money, why Razieh ties down Nader’s father, who opened Nader’s father’s oxygen tank to a dangerous level, or the region Simin is trying to emigrate to. The director’s design is not to give explanations to these matters, but rather to leave it up to the viewer’s interpretation.
Asghar Farhadi answered in an interview, “A doctor has determined that one of his patients has one month left to live. An Iranian doctor would not tell the patient he is going to die and will tell the truth only to the relatives of the patient. However, a Swedish doctor will tell the patient honestly that they have one month to live to help them prepare mentally. You cannot say which doctor is right. The important thing is that you as a patient can choose which doctor to have.” He wishes for the audience to feel something by telling a story where any possible conclusion is valid. He doesn’t care if viewers reach a different conclusion than one he had envisioned. Each viewer thinks and feels with their own heart.
But what is the message he wishes to convey within the plot? I believe that he wishes to criticize how society confines women in the name of Islamic fundamentalism. Razieh is a very religious woman. When she discovers that Nader’s father is incontinent, she calls a religious authority to see if she is allowed to touch and clean the body of this old man. The movie didn’t tell how the authority answered. Perhaps the authority said no, but Razieh couldn’t leave the man as he was. Razieh’s child who is 4 years old reassures her mother, “It’s okay. I won’t tell daddy.” Razieh claimed that Nader caused the miscarriage even though she does not know 100% whether it was his fault because she fears being beaten to death by her husband. However, in the end, she tells the truth even though it could put her own life in danger because she feared that if she accepted the large amount of money from Nader to settle, God would punish her daughter for her lie. Simin also fears that her own daughter will die in obscurity in Iran so she wishes to get out of Iran, even if that means leaving behind all her assets. This movie depicts the difficult decision a mother with a girl must make. Asghar Farhadi’s daughter plays Termeh, Nader and Simin’s daughter, in this movie. This young girl won Best Actress in the Berlin Film Festival. Asghar Farhadi also wishes for the best for his daughter’s future, but I think he is not 100% sure that is possible within the current system of Iran.
People in the movie industry that criticize the present regime of Iran must take refuge outside of Iran or could end up in prison. Asghar Farhadi had in the past advocated for an artist who, with the Green Movement, opposed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s reelection in the 2009 presidential election, and Farhadi was temporarily banned from making movies. After that, he was determined to stay within the country and make movies, but has succeeded in making movies while evading government oppression. First of all, he does not explicitly criticize religion and the characters do not physically touch each other. The criticism of the system is implied through the protagonist Simin, who is depicted as a slightly selfish woman of the intellectual rank. “I do not want to raise my child in this environment!” she states boldly in front of the judge, but it is left to the interpretation of the audience whether the environment means with her stubborn husband or within Iran’s society. It is then lamented and murmured over and over again, “If Simin hadn’t the ambition to emigrate, such a case wouldn’t have happened.” However, in this movie, Simin and Razieh are two young mothers who act for their child. Simin is very intelligent and puts others’ happiness before hers, sacrificing herself as many women do. Even while Nader’s father is suffering from dementia, there is a scene where he still remembers Simin’s kindness.
This movie was nominated for and won Best Foreign Film in the 84th Academy Awards, winning over the other nominations including Footnote, a film from Israel. The people of Iran were very excited for their victory over their longtime enemy Israel. This award will make it easier for Asghar Farhadi to make movies within the system of Iran, but I hope he doesn’t become too arrogant from this award. From the splendid speech that he gave when he won his Oscar, though, I do not believe that he is this kind of person.