It’s rare to get the whole crux of a movie in an opening scene but that’s exactly what happens here when we see Nader & Simin facing a judge on their own in an otherwise empty room arguing about getting a divorce. They are a successful middle-aged professional couple living in present day Iran who had agreed in principle to move abroad for a better life, but now the time has come to depart, Nader wants to stay to look after his elderly father who has Alzheimer’s.
So Simin moves to her mother’s house and sues Nader for divorce even though they both want to remain married. Consequently he needs to employ a caregiver to tend to his father during the day, and so he hires Razieh who takes the job as her family is heavily in debt but she keeps it a secret from her unemployed husband who as a strict Moslem, would never allow her to work in a household where there is no other woman present.
One day Nader returns home early to find that Razieh has disappeared and left his father alone and tied to the bed and he is lying there unconscious. He also discovers some money is missing, so when Razieh returns he accuses her of both theft and almost killing his father. He fires her and there is a heated
argument and he pushes her out of the front door. Somehow she falls down the stairs and as result she accuses Nader of causing a miscarriage.
argument and he pushes her out of the front door. Somehow she falls down the stairs and as result she accuses Nader of causing a miscarriage.
They end up in court and as the case unfolds there is real turmoil as Razieh comes to terms how this all fits with her devout religious beliefs, and Nader an essentially open-minded man must deal with the consequences of being economical with the truth. It’s essentially all about these decent people trying to do the right thing even though theodds may be stacked against them.
It would spoil it to say more about what happens, butthe clue is in the opening scene. What I can happily reveal is that it is made that much more mesmerizing from the exquisitely matchless performances by Peyman Modai and Lila Hatami in the lead roles. Superb.
This rather stunning move is a riveting compelling story so powerfully told about these two families in contemporary Iran is even more remarkable for the mere fact that it shows a regular almost commonplace life in a society that is usually stigmatized by the maligned regard we have of it in the West. There is no extremists here, no terrorists or war, or the usual anti-American rhetoric that one has come to expect with anything remotely Iranian, but a tale of the simple perils of the price of honesty.Simply and beautifully told. Totally unmissable.
I’ve not seen all the nominated movies for Best Foreign Language but it would take a hell of a lot to deny this one the Oscar.
