Transcending cultural and religious barriers to present a fascinating portrait of contemporary Iran, A Separation is Asghar Farhadi's Divorce, Persian Style.
Screening at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival it has received accolades from critics and audiences around the globe; winning the 2012 Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film, the Golden Bear for Best Film at 2011 Berlin Film Festival and nominated for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Original Screenplay at the 2012 Academy Awards.
Nader (Peyman Moaadi) and Simin (Leila Hatami) are well-behaved middle-class Iranian citizens. They fight quietly, hold decent jobs and prefer to resolve their domestic differences in court.
But they only comfort themselves with such courtesy because they might be a little too civilized to let their real feelings show.
When Nader refuses to emigrate from Iran, Simin files for divorce and retreats to her mother's house. Nader hires Razieh (Sareh Bayat), a deeply religious and secretly pregnant young woman, to look after his father, who suffers from Alzheimer's.
As Razieh's "condition" starts getting in the way of her job, Nader allows the worst aspects of his repressed nature to emerge 鈥� resulting in Razieh's uncivilized termination and even more courtroom headaches.
As Nader's entire family is drawn into an unprecedented feud, Farhadi continues his devilishly clever turning of narrative tables, selectively revealing new details and forcing the viewer to continually reassess each character.With extraordinary performances by an outstanding cast, A Separation delivers Farhadi's best work to date; a maze of narrative intrigue and complex emotion in which everyone is both innocent and guilty, depending on where you stand.
The coming films for the Winter/Spring series are:
Feb. 19 鈥� A Separation (drama);
March 4 鈥� Pi帽a (musical & performing arts);
March 18 鈥� Coriolanus (mystery & suspense, drama).
Film Series tickets are on sale now. Tickets are $11 each, available at the CVAG Gift Shop, 580 Duncan Ave, Downtown Courtenay and Videos N More, 264 Anderton Road, Comox. If the film does not sell out, tickets will also be available in the Rialto Theatre lobby before the film - cash only, exact change appreciated.
All films are on Sundays at 5 p.m. at the Rialto Theatre, 2665 Cliffe Ave, Courtenay (at Driftwood Mall) and are fundraisers for the Comox Valley Art Gallery.
For updates and more information on the films, visit or call 250-338-6211.
鈥� Comox Valley Art Gallery
