The win was not a surprise. “A Separation” was regarded as the front-runner for the foreign language Oscar after sweeping the awards circuit in both the United States and Europe. In fact, it would have been shocking if “A Separation” had not won this Oscar.
The film also garnered an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay, a rarity for a foreign language film. It failed to win in that category Sunday as Woody Allen walked off with that Oscar.
“A Separation” was only the second Iranian film to be nominated for the foreign language Oscar. Over the years since 1969, 12 nominations have gone to Iranian expatriates and three to Iranians—the two this year to “A Separation” and a 1999 nomination for Majid Majidi’s “Children of Heaven,” also in the best foreign language film category. (See box on page two for the full list of nominees.)
Farhadi drew a hushed audience as he held up the Oscar and accepted the award, with the crowd clearly on tenterhooks to see if he would make a political statement. His speech was, however, much like the script for his film; it raised questions rather than giving answers and focused on the complexity and ambiguity of life.
“At this time, many Iranians all over the world are watching us and I imagine them to be very happy,” Farhadi told the audience.
“At a time of talk of war, intimidation and aggression is exchanged between politicians, the name of their country, Iran, is spoken here through her glorious culture, a rich and ancient culture that has been hidden under the heavy dust of politics.
“I proudly offer this award to the people of my country, the people who respect all cultures and civilizations and despise hostility and resentment,” he said.
In Iran, those with illegal satellite dishes could watch the Oscar show live. As soon as Farhadi won, a flood of phone calls and text messages poured out. Farhadi’s brief speech seemed to strike a real cord with viewers. “The speech was what made my day,” Negar told Agence France Presse. “It is time for the world to look at Iran in a different light.”
In Washington, the State Department took the unusual step of lauding Farhadi’s victory. Spokesperson Victoria Nuland said, “We applaud his achievement and celebrate the vibrancy and historical greatness of the independent film industry in Iran.” It is not believed the State Department has ever before commented on an Oscar winner.
“A Separation” is 123 minutes long and was made for just $800,000. It has so far generated more than $13 million in worldwide box office sales, according to the website Box Office Mojo, including $2.6 million in the US.
Farhadi’s film defeated four other nominees, including “Footnote,” an Israeli movie. Many were surprised that the Islamic Republic allowed “A Separation” to continue in the Oscar competition once it was put beside an Israeli film. The government does not allow Iranian athletes to compete in international events against Israelis. But Tehran was silent this time.
The director said Sunday he was unsure how the Iranian government would respond to his Oscar honor.
“The Iranian government is not unanimous at all. When this film was nominated, some were happy, some were silent, some not happy at all,” Farhadi told reporters after winning. “I can’t predict what’s going to happen. So I’m going to wait until they respond.”
The response from the Culture Ministry was a doozie. Culture Minister Mohammad Hossaini said his ministry should share in the accolades because it set the film on the road to its “valuable success” by issuing the permit that allowed it to be made.
State television, however, took a different tack, portraying Farhadi’s win as something of a victory over Israel.
Two nights before the Oscar ceremony, Israeli and Iranian artists from the nominated films came together in a show of peace, said Lior Ashkenazi, a star of “Footnote.”
“At the Academy event in honor of the foreign films, we sat, spoke and all the veils came off,” Ashkenazi told Israel’s Army Radio. “They are warm hearted people. We invited them to Tel Aviv and they invited us to Tehran.”
And in Israel, the movie theaters showing “A Separation” were reported to be packed. The reaction of viewers might surprise many. Rina Brick, 70, said she noted the humaneness of the Iranian bureaucrats in the film. “Our image of how Iran works is less democratic than we see here,” she said. “The judge, the police, everyone behaves as if they are in a Western country.”
Rivka Cohen, 78, left Iran at age 15. She said she was struck by how modern Tehran was. “I was surprised by the way people lived in their houses,” she said. “Everyone had a fridge and a washing machine.”
Farhadi, who works and lives in Tehran, has been reluctant to entertain theories that his film is a parable for the struggles between Iran’s young dissidents and its paternalistic mullahs, saying it is up to audiences to take from the movie what they will.
Some have interpreted “A Separation” as a comment on class differences, or as a critique of Iran’s justice system, or a clash between modernity and tradition.
Farhadi has said he faced no problem with censors while making the film. He needed script approval and a license from the Culture Ministry before he could start filming. He had to get approval after completion and a second license to screen the film in Iranian theaters. And he needed a third license to export the movie.
Farhadi did have one run-in with the authorities, however. After director Jafar Panahi was sentenced to jail in 2010 and banned from making any more films, Farhadi spoke up publicly for Panahi. The Culture Ministry then withdrew the license under which Farhadi was shooting “A Separation.” After Farhadi apologized, the license was restored,
In the past, Farhadi has also criticized fellow Iranians who emphasize state censorship in order to promote their movies abroad, saying they are as morally culpable as the government officials who censor them.
In addition to the Israeli film, the other nominees this year were “Bullhead” from Belgium, “In Darkness” from Poland and “Monsieur Lazhard” from Canada.
The Wall Street Journal said “A Separation” was not the best foreign language film of 2011, but rather the best film of the year. The motion picture continues to receive accolades from reviewers as it opens in more and more theaters across North America. The Oscar win is expected to bring it to more cities and for longer runs.
Tom Long, the reviewer for The Detroit News, said, “’A Separation’ manages such a sublime balance of complexity and clarity, of the unique and familiar, that it’s breathtaking. This is, simply put, one of the best films I’ve ever seen.Ö It’s about family, and society, and honor, and love. Good heavens, what isn’t it about?”
He concluded: “’A Separation’ offers a complex and layered story about flawed characters trying to make their way through life, stumbling, fumbling and often desperate. These people seem so real they might live next door. And they probably do.”
Betsy Sharkey, writing in the Los Angeles Times, said: “It is one of those rare films in which literally everything fits together seamlessly, beautifully, to create a rich tapestry of a family that, despite living in modern-day Tehran, will feel remarkably familiar.… It is virtually impossible not to be deeply moved by this powerful film. It is impossible not to be struck by the fact that while wars, religion, politics may divide us, when it comes to matters of the heart, the experience is universal.”
T’Cha Dunleavy wrote in The Gazette of Montreal: “Good luck figuring out who is right and who is wrong as the accusations fly and negotiations kick into high gear. It is man vs. wife, poor vs. rich, religious vs. (relatively) secular, daughter vs. parents, and citizens vs. the legal system. And it all turns in circles that are at once frustratingly unproductive and tellingly obtuse. It is not in the resolution that Farhadi’s story shines, but rather in its cluttered, labyrinthine path. We empathize with each of his characters, and we get pulled in as they try to find a way out.”
The film is, in other words, very Persian with a focus on the complexity and ambiguity of life and very unlike the stereotypical American movie where there are black hats and white hats with clear delineation between the good guys and the bad guys.
Following are the Iranian Oscar nominees over the years:
Year Nominee Film Category
1969 Reza Aghayan Gaily, Gaily Costume Design
1972 Reza Aghayan Lady Sings the Blues Costume Design
1975 Reza Aghayan Funny Lady Costume Design
1997 Habib Zargarpour Twister Special Effects
1997 Darius Khondji Evita Cinematography
1998 Hossein Amini The Wings of the Dove Screenplay
1999 Majid Majidi Children of Heaven Foreign Language Film
2000 Mehdi Nowruzian Killing Joe Live Action Short
2001 Habib Zargarpour The Perfect Storm Special Effects
2004 Shohreh Aghdashloo House of Sand and Fog Best Supporting Actress
2007 Kami Asgar Apocalypto Sound Editing
2008 Marjane Satrapi Persepolis Animated Feature Film
2009 Emud Mokhberi Oktapodi Short Film Animated
2012 Asghar Farhadi Separation Original Screenplay
2012 Asghar Farhadi Separation Foreign Language Film
