فروشنده‎ (The Salesman) (2016)

Director: Asghar Farhadi
Writer: Asghar Farhadi
DOP: Hossein Jafarian
Cast: Shahab Hosseini, Taraneh Alidoosti
Language: Persian

While both participating in a production of "Death of a Salesman", a teacher's wife is assaulted in her new home, which leaves him determined to find the perpetrator over his wife's traumatized objections.

It is not made clear initially whether the assault was sexual in nature. They also don't have a detailed conversation about it. The husband decides not to report it to the Police as he doesn't want his wife to go through the ordeal of recounting it again and again  but becomes obsessed with finding the culprit. It is not clear, to him also, what he is going to do with him in case if he catches him. As he obsesses over it, cracks start appearing in their relationship as she is not very sure about his priorities.

The film got some publicity due to the 'Muslim' travel ban issued by Donald Trump and Asghar Farhadi making a public condemnation of it and declaring that he is not going to come to America for academy awards anyway. He had already won an Academy Award for 'A Separation', an excellent film. His follow up to it, Le Passe, was also great. It was almost as if the academy award for 'The Salesman' was a foregone conclusion due to the politics surrounding it. I got to say it pales in comparison with the other two Farhadi films that I mentioned above. It is by no means a bad film but is certainly very overrated. I am not familiar with 'Death of a Salesman' and can't comment on how well it fits in well with this film.

PS: The film got a quite wide theatrical distribution in India and our censors had the dubious distinction of further censoring an Iranian film.

Rating: 3/5

Le passé (The Past) (2013)

Director: Asghar Farhadi
Writers:  Asghar Farhadi, Massoumeh Lahidji
Cast:       Ali Mosaffa, Berenice Bejo, Tahar Rahim, Pauline Burlet
Language: French, Persian

An Iranian returns to France to file divorce with her wife whom he had left four years back after suffering from depression. Things get complicated as he gets involved with the tensions within the family between the mother and her elder daughter, who is not happy with the mother's pending marriage to a man whose wife is in a coma.

The film is extremely intense as things get more tangled as it dwells more into the past. Little things are revealed slowly to the audience without any spoon feeding and it is amazing how Iranian films gets such fresh stories from family relationship situations. The twist at the end is similar to the one in Farhadi's previous film 'A Separation'. The performances are great from all the four leading characters as well as child actors. It is another masterpiece from Farhadi again dealing with separation but mostly to do with the aftermath.

Rating: 5/5

Jodaeiye Nader az Simin (A Separation) (2011)

Director: Asghar Farhadi
Writer:   Asghar Farhadi
Cast:     Peyman Moaadi, Leila Hatami, Sareh Bayat, Sarina Farhadi
Language: Persian

A married coupled is faced with a difficult decision- to improve their life by moving abroad or to stay in Iran looking after a deteriorating parent who is suffering from Alzheimer's disease. This causes their temporary separation which leads to the hiring of a maid to look after the patient.

The film is captivating from the first scene and the ensemble cast received a much deserved acting award in the Berlin film festival. It also won the best foreign picture award at the academy awards. The story is universal and is not the usual one you would expect from an Iranian film. The film continuously surprised me with its subtlety and the room for interpretation the script is providing for the viewer. It is a masterpiece which deserved all the accolades it got during the awards season.

Rating: 5/5