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A Separation | 2011 | PG-13 | - 1.4.4

When a married couple (Peyman Moaadi and Leila Hatami) are forced to decide between staying in their home country of Iran to care for the husband's father who is suffering from Alzheimer's or to move to another country to improve the life of their child, their decision is further complicated when the husband is accused of a very serious crime. Also with Sareh Bayat, Shahab Hosseini, and Sarina Farhadi. Directed by Asghar Farhadi. In Persian with English subtitles (original title: Jodaeiye Nader az Simin). [2:03]

SEX/NUDITY 1 - An elderly man's bare back and chest are visible as his adult son bathes him and we see a small portion of an elderly man's bare chest as his adult son dresses him.
 A woman instructs an elderly man to take off his pants and give himself a bath (we see the ailing elderly man sitting on a toilet, fully clothed). A woman asks an unseen person over the phone if it would be a sin for her to help the elderly man bathe. A woman tells a man that it is "not right" for her to have to clean the man's ailing elderly father.

VIOLENCE/GORE 4 - A pre-teen girl gasps when she discovers her elderly ailing grandfather lying on the ground with his hand is tied to a post of a bed; his son (the girl's father) places him on the bed, the elderly man appears dead, but the other man says that he is still breathing, he checks the elderly man for injuries and we later see the elderly man at the doctor while his son explains that the man is no longer speaking after his traumatic fall.
 Two men shout, shove one another and have to be pulled apart by a crowd of people; one man shouts at a woman, slams his hand against a window and shouts at another man, and he appears as though he is going to lunge at the man until he is pulled away by other men. A woman shouts at a man to not touch her after he touches her shoulder and she continues to shout as the man kicks her out of his home; we see the woman weeping loudly, sitting in a stairway.
 A woman races through a busy street looking for an elderly man with Alzheimer's, and she finds him wandering in traffic, unharmed; cars honk as they zoom by and we later see the elderly man unharmed but learn that the woman had been hit by a car (we do not see the woman being hit).
 A man warns an elderly man that he is going to push a door open and possibly hurt the elderly man; the man shoves against the door and we see the elderly man lying on the ground as the man rushes in (the elderly man is unharmed).
 A man angrily whisper-shouts at a woman as she tearfully tells the man that a car had hit her, causing her to miscarry; the woman refuses to swear that a man had caused her miscarriage, and the man violently hits himself on the head and chest as the woman cries and tries to hold his hands. A man shouts at a magistrate and says that another man had pushed his wife and she miscarried her child; the magistrate tells the man to calm down or he will be arrested, the man continues to argue as he is walked out of the room and he slams a metal door as he leaves the room. A pre-teen girl screams and tries to grab her mother, who pushes her away as the woman shouts at her; a man (the father) overhears them fighting and ignores them while the pre-teen girl cries and the woman storms away. Two men shout at one another: one man shouts that it was not possible for a man to shove a woman and cause her to fall down steps. A woman shouts at an officer, and the officer tells the woman that she must arrest the woman's husband; we see the man looking ill, and a woman tearfully explains to a magistrate that her husband is depressed and ill, and should not be arrested. A man shouts that a man had accused him and his wife of being thieves.
 A magistrate informs a man that he was being charged with murder after a woman had miscarried; the woman states that a man had "thrown her" and she had fallen down stairs, which caused her miscarriage, the man states he had not known that the woman was pregnant and that he had only pushed her, the woman's husband shouts at the man, accusing him of murdering his child and the man shouts back until the magistrate corrects them.
 A woman tells another woman that she had "killed" another woman's child after the woman had a miscarriage. A woman asks her husband, "What did you do to her?" in reference to a woman having had a miscarriage. A man tells his estranged wife that a woman had tied his elderly ailing father to a bed and left to run errands, saying that his father had fallen and that he would have been dead if he were left "ten more minutes." An older woman dramatically tells a man that a couple is acting as though their 18-year-old son "was stabbed" when being charged with murder. A woman asks her estranged husband if he had struck a woman, the man acts dismayed and she informs him that the woman is in the hospital; the man tells his wife that he had "shoved" the woman out of the house, the wife responds that if the woman dies, "her blood is on your hands" and that the injured woman's sister had called and cursed at her over the phone. A man shouts at his wife, and he dramatically says that he had killed a woman's baby after the woman asks the man if he had pushed her; the man shouts that a woman had tied his ailing father to a bed and explains that he thinks the blow that caused a miscarriage was not from him and could have been from her husband. A woman and a man shout at one another and an unseen man. A man shouts at a woman. A woman shouts at her young daughter. Two men raise their voices and shout at one another; we hear the two men talking over one another as a magistrate tells the men to be quiet. A man shouts at a woman, the woman bangs on the door, shouting back at the man and we hear a girl crying in the background. A man shouts at another man, saying that a woman had revoked her testimony causing the man to shout angrily. A woman shouts at a man, the man shouts back accusing the woman of picking on a girl's drawing to say that the man had beaten his wife, he shouts that he does not beat his wife or treat his children like animals, he is led away, and he pounds on a window as he leaves (the man comes back and continues to shout at the woman). A man shouts at a woman as she drives in a car next to his and the woman ignores him and drives away. A man shouts at a woman, warning her that her husband will make him "do something crazy." A woman shouts at her pre-teen daughter. A man shouts at his wife.
 A man explains to a magistrate that a woman had tied his ailing elderly father to a bed, that he had fallen and he had thought the man was dead; the magistrate asks if the elderly man was hurt and the man explains that he had been injured. A woman tells another woman that she is unsure whether it was a man pushing her that had caused a miscarriage, and that she had been hit by a car as she was crossing the street to find a senile elderly man; she explains that she had pain in her stomach and had not felt the baby move since she was hit by the car and that her husband would "kill her" if he had known she was hit by a car. A man tells a woman that another man had accused her of tying up his father and leaving and he explains that the woman could be charged with neglect. A woman explains to a magistrate that she had left an elderly man tied up because she feared for his safety when she left; the woman's husband interrupts and shouts that it was so the man could hit the woman. A hospital attendant tells a man and a woman that another woman had surgery and was in post-op after having had a miscarriage. A man asks another man if the man's wife had fallen, causing her a miscarriage. A woman tells an investigator that she had not seen a woman be pushed down the stairs. A man explains to another man that a woman could have slipped on steps after she mopped them, and may not have been thrown down the stairs. A man offers that the investigator should shove him out of a door and see him fall down the stairs (the investigator declines). A woman asks a young girl if her father had hit her mother and that is what caused her to lose her child, and the girl tells the woman that her parents do not fight; the woman asks the girl to clarify why she had drawn them fighting previously and the girl is silent. A woman tells another woman that her husband had shoved a woman and she had lost her baby. A magistrate tells a man that he is being charged with murder; the man panics and tells the magistrate that he cannot post bail because he has an ill father who needs constant care. A pre-teen girl tells her father that her mother had explained that the man had not asked questions when he was informed that a woman had a miscarriage. A pre-teen girl asks her father why he had hit a woman whom he knew was pregnant, and the man explains that he was not thinking; the girl further asks the man why he had lied about it and the man explains that he did not want to go to prison because he was worried about her future. A woman tells another woman she had gotten dizzy the previous day and accidentally dropped a bag of garbage on the stairs. A woman whispers to another woman that she should be truthful that she had a miscarriage after being hit by a car. Two women discuss how they fear for their children based on the outcome of a court case where one of husbands has been accused of killing the other woman's unborn child. A pre-teen girl tells her father that a man had shouted outside her school that her father had killed his child. An unseen man tells a man that a woman cannot leave a man because he does not beat her and the woman tells the unseen man that her husband is a good man. A woman calmly tells a man that her husband will pay blood money, and the man accuses the woman of trying to bribe him after her husband had killed his child. A man explains to a doctor that his elderly father had some bruises on his arm from being tied to a bed. We hear a man explain to another man that he was unsure if bruising was from the elderly man's fall from the bed. A woman tells a man that a "creditor" had taken her husband and that she was going to go and beg for his release. A woman tells another woman that creditors had taken a man to prison. A man instructs a woman how to take care of his elderly father suffering from Alzheimer's, warning her to not allow the man by a stove or leave him home alone. We see a urine stain on an elderly man's pants, and a young girl tells her mother that the elderly man has urinated in his pants; the woman asks the elderly man if he can wash himself and change his pants and explains to another woman over the phone that an elderly man had urinated on himself. A man warns another man that an ailing elderly man had been soiling himself and that part of the man's job would be to clean the elderly man.
 A man, his wife and pre-teen daughter approach their car, they pause and we see a broken windshield; it is implied that another man had smashed the windshield.
 A woman on a bus almost faints, another woman catches her, places her in a seat and the woman falls asleep immediately. A woman holds a cloth under her nose, and she is sweating and appears very upset after witnessing a shouting match between her estranged husband and another man. We see an elderly, ailing man with an oxygen tank next to him and he must be instructed to do basic functions; a young girl asks what the tubes attached to the elderly man's nose are.
 A man supervises his ailing elderly father using the bathroom (we do not see it) and he warns the man "don't put your hand there."
 A man chases his pre-teen daughter playfully up the stairs. Two girls playfully shout as they play a game of foosball.

LANGUAGE 4 - 2 scatological terms, 4 mild obscenities, name-calling (poor thing, scum, trash, animal, silly man, jerk, crazy, coward, bum), 4 religious exclamations.

SUBSTANCE USE - An unseen man mentions that he cannot grant a woman a divorce because it is not like her husband is "an addict." A woman is seen stubbing out a cigarette.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Alzheimer's disease, divorce, parental rights, forgiveness, elderly abuse, miscarriages, murder, civil rights, avoidance, responsibility, truth, perjury, blame, extortion, religious devotion, child custody.

MESSAGE - Blame can complicate many situations.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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