A Separation

"Ugly truth, sweet lies."

2011 2h 3m FA

🙌

7.9

BANGER

★7.9TMDB · 2,038

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A married couple are faced with a difficult decision – to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.

“Ugly truth, sweet lies.”

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Cast

Payman Maadi
Nader
Leila Hatami
Simin
Shahab Hosseini
Hojjat
Sareh Bayat
Razieh
Sarina Farhadi
Termeh
Ali-Asghar Shahbazi
Nader's Father
Merila Zarei
Miss Ghahraii - Termeh's Teacher
Babak Karimi
Interrogator

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Asghar Farhadi
Writers: Asghar Farhadi
Languages: Persian
Countries: Iran, France

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 4.9× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 15 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: Iran, France.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Asghar Farhadi, shot by Mahmoud Kalari. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Sattar Oraki. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Hayedeh Safiyari shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Payman Maadi and Leila Hatami and Shahab Hosseini carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Asghar Farhadi directs. Mahmoud Kalari behind the camera. Sattar Oraki scores. Hayedeh Safiyari cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in Iran, France. Dialogue in Persian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 4.9× over at the box office.
2Released 15 years ago.
3International production across 2 countries: Iran, France.
4Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
5Directed by Asghar Farhadi, shot by Mahmoud Kalari. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Sattar Oraki. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Hayedeh Safiyari shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Payman Maadi and Leila Hatami and Shahab Hosseini carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Ugly truth, sweet lies.".
10IMDB entry: tt1832382 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 12 themes, including "emigration", "class", "alzheimer's disease", "teheran (tehran), iran".
12Released under 45 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Mahmoud Kalari
Original score: Sattar Oraki
Editing: Hayedeh Safiyari
Production design: Keyvan Moghaddam
Makeup / hair: Mehrdad Mirkiani
Runtime: 123 min · 2h 3m
Status: Released
Budget: $5,000,000
Box office: $24,426,169
Return: 489% of budget
Original language: FA
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: A Separation (2011)

Awards

Silver Bear for Best Actor
Silver Bear for Best Actress
Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Feature Film
César Award for Best Foreign Film
Golden Bear
Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Asghar Farhadi

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Andres Gomez2013-10-12
★ 9/10
Great movie around and simple yet neat story with great characters, script and performances. You can totally believe the story is just happening at your building stairs.

Production companies