About Elly (Darbareye Elly)

ABOUT ELLY (DARBAREYE ELLY) (Asghar Farhadi, 2009)

A weekend at a seaside villa turns tense when one member of a group disappears in ABOUT ELLY. Sepideh (Golshifteh Farahani) arranges for three couples, their kids, an unmarried friend, and her daughter’s teacher to get away from Tehran for some relaxation. Her ulterior motivation for the trip is to introduce Ahmad (Shahab Hosseini), who lives in Germany and divorced his wife, to shy teacher Elly (Taraneh Alidoosti). Although Elly appears to be having a good time, she insists that she can only stay one night. She may want to get back to her mother, who is recovering from a recent heart attack, or she may be uncomfortable with the jokes and subtle pressure to pair off with Ahmad.

When everyone realizes that Elly has vanished, the question is whether she walked to town to catch a bus or drowned trying to save one of the kids who had been playing by the shore and was pulled away by the turbulent sea. They have reason to believe that either outcome is possible, but with no body found and no way of contacting her, the answer remains elusive. As the friends scramble to determine how they should proceed in the situation, they act rashly and assign blame to one another.

The final shot of ABOUT ELLY features a car spinning its wheels as the friends try to push it out of a rut in the beach. The image rhymes with their actions throughout the film. The more effort they put into expedient resolutions of the problems they confront, the deeper they get stuck in them. Writer-director Asghar Farhadi creates the quagmire out of small lies and deceptions. This excursion is rooted in deceit. The individual untruths and misleadings may not seem problematic at the time they are uttered, but the accumulation of them forms a quicksand that tugs them further into the morass.

Farhadi’s intricate yet efficient screenplay showcases his watchmaker-like ability for setting a story in motion and having the moving pieces operate in accordance beautifully. ABOUT ELLY monitors eight adults plus kids and the dynamics among them. As it would be for Elly, a stranger among intimates, there’s a lot for the viewer to process in the introduction to these characters. Farhadi’s observational style doesn’t waste a shot in providing all of the information needed to understand the complex interactions.

The remarkable screenplay makes ABOUT ELLY seem like it could translate well to the stage, yet it boasts strengths particular to filmmaking. The roar of the sea reminds of the trouble that awaits but blends into the background until it must be dealt with. Editor Hayedeh Safiyari’s cuts from scene to scene aren’t confusing but raise some uncertainty of how the action advances from one point to the next. The technique reflects the disorientation the group feels upon realizing the mess they’ve ended up in. In a subtle but dazzling transition, the opening shot inside a charity box as money is dropped through the slot becomes light in a tunnel. Both images suggest the danger of not understanding what one thinks is seen with a limited perspective.

ABOUT ELLY debuted in 2009 but remained unreleased in the United States because of rights issues. Like Farhadi’s great subsequent film, A SEPARATION, this thriller thrives on how scenarios unravel as individuals take measures to protect their self-interests.

Grade: A

A Separation (Jodaeiye Nader az Simin)

A SEPARATION (JODAEIYE NADER AZ SIMIN) (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)

In A SEPARATION Nader (Peyman Moadi) and Simin (Leila Hatami) have reached a major disagreement in their fourteen-year marriage.  They and their eleven-year-old daughter Termeh (Sarina Farhadi) have received their visas, but the window to use them will soon be closing.  Simin wishes to leave Iran for the United States because she wants a better life for her daughter than what she believes awaits her in their home country.  Nader refuses to go because he must take care of his Alzheimer’s stricken father (Ali-Asghar Shahbazi).

Feeling as though she has no alternative, Simin files for a divorce.  She freely admits that her husband does not treat her poorly.  Nader does not wish to end their relationship.  Informed of these facts, the judge sees no just cause for granting the divorce.  Simin expresses her displeasure by moving into her parents’ home.

With his wife gone, Nader needs someone to attend to his father while he works.  He hires Razieh (Sareh Bayat), a poor woman who must make a long commute to Tehran to earn her pay.  The requirements of the job present challenges that may exceed what she can handle, but Razieh needs the money, especially with her hotheaded husband Hodjat (Shahab Hosseini) in debt to creditors.

The situation takes a turn for the worse when Nader makes two discoveries not to his liking and fires her on the spot.  The outcome of their argument leads to legal charges that could bring serious trouble to both families.

Writer-director Asghar Farhadi performs some kind of miracle with the tension and complexity he produces from such a simple set-up.  Even more impressively, he does it by observing all sides fairly and having them present the truth as they know it.  Here are two couples attempting to make the best of their undesirable circumstances at home and in the judicial system, yet the more they try to wiggle their ways out of their problems, the more serious the consequences become.

Certainly plenty is at stake in the legal dispute, but as information is revealed in testimony, the repercussions for each side threaten to greatly exceed what any of them could have anticipated.  Even striving to make things right after a difficult investigation can have negative, unforeseeable results.  Relationships are also at risk. Nader and Simin were happily married, and their choices can be justified.  What is the correct decision when improving a child’s prospects means abandoning an ill parent or reliant relative?

The stress of picking between impossible options creates the cracks.  Endeavoring to heal them increases the fractures.  Being right within a marriage and the court is important to all parties, but the cost can be steep, especially when arriving at the superior judgment is practically unachievable.

Farhadi’s exceptional screenplay for A SEPARATION is a model of dramatic structure.  The makers of Hollywood thrillers wish they could turn out films this nerve-racking, let alone ones that achieve such narrative pressure through ordinary conversations that spouses and legal combatants might engage in.

The uniformly excellent cast pulls audience loyalties with great skill.  Moadi gains sympathy as the wounded spouse and suffering child, but he also plays Nader with stubbornness and anger that can make him difficult to support at times.  Hatami stands firm as a protective mother whose singular mindset can exacerbate matters.  Bayat attracts compassion and aggravates through her effort to act properly according to rigid expectations.

A SEPARATION isn’t strictly about divorce or other marital parting of ways, but a crucial portion consists of providing perspective on how spousal divisions and disagreements affect children.  Termeh and Razieh’s young daughter are mostly silent witnesses to the domestic and legal battles around them.  In a film teeming with emotional potency, the most devastating moments come in the acknowledgment that regardless of what the adults sort out, these girls are bystanders who absorb significant injuries of their own.

Grade: A


(Note:  A SEPARATION was not seen in time for consideration among my picks for the best films of 2011.  If it had, it would have ranked third on my Top 10 list.)