From what I’ve been hearing, Iran’s Oscar contending Foreign Language submission A Separation from director Asghar Farhadi and starring Leila Hatami, Peyman Moaadi, Shahab Hosseini and Sareh Bayat may be the film to beat in this year’s race. I actually just received a screener copy yesterday and intend to watch it in the coming days along with In Darkness, Miss Bala and Le Havre as my foreign language plate this year is strangely empty.
The synopsis for A Separation reads like this:
Set in contemporary Iran, A Separation is a compelling drama about the dissolution of a marriage. Simin wants to leave Iran with her husband Nader and daughter Termeh. Simin sues for divorce when Nader refuses to leave behind his Alzheimer-suffering father. Her request having failed, Simin returns to her parents’ home, but Termeh decides to stay with Nader.
When Nader hires a young woman to assist with his father in his wife’s absence, he hopes that his life will return to a normal state. However, when he discovers that the new maid has been lying to him, he realizes that there is more on the line than just his marriage.
Sony Classics is set to premiere the film in New York and Los Angeles on December 30 with, what I would expect, a smaller roll out to follow, especially if it is among the Oscar nominees on Tuesday, January 24, 2012.
Check out the trailer directly below or over at Apple in high definition.
