Nader and Simin - A separation

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Movie
German title Nader and Simin - A separation
Original title جدایی نادر از سیمین Jodāi-ye Nāder az Simin
Country of production Iran
original language Persian
Publishing year 2011
length 123 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Asghar Farhadi
script Asghar Farhadi
production Asghar Farhadi
music Sattar Oraki
camera Mahmood Kalari
cut Hayedeh Safiyari
occupation
The main actors
Leila Hatami Cannes 2014 2.jpg
Payman maadi.jpg

Nader and Simin - A Separation ( Persian جدایی نادر از سیمین Jodāi-ye Nāder az Simin , DMG Ǧodāī-ye Nāder az Sīmīn , 'The Separation of Naders from Simin', engl. Festival title: Nader and Simin, A Separation ) is a feature film by Iranian director Asghar Farhadi from 2011. The drama is based on an original screenplay by Farhadi, who also produced it and used his daughter as an actress. It tells of the relationship between two Iranian families, one from the educated upper middle class, the other from the religious lower class.

The film premiered on February 9, 2011 at the Fajr International Film Festival in Tehran. In Germany it was shown for the first time on February 15, 2011 as part of the 61st Berlinale , where the film was the first Iranian contribution to win the Golden Bear . More than 40 other film and festival awards followed, including the Oscar and Golden Globe Award for best foreign language film. The German theatrical release took place on July 14, 2011.

action

Nader and Simin have been married for 14 years and live in Tehran with their 11-year-old daughter Termeh . The family belongs to the urban upper middle class. Simin wants to leave the country with her husband and daughter, as originally planned together and already successfully applied for from the authorities. Termeh should not continue to grow up "in the circumstances here". In the meantime, however, Nader distances himself from her plan. He doesn't want to leave his father, who is suffering from Alzheimer's and increasingly in need of care and who lives with them in an apartment, to his fate. Simin then files for divorce. Nader is basically ready to consent, but does not want to lose Termeh. Simin now leaves her husband and daughter and moves in with her mother, whereupon Nader hires Razieh, chosen by his still-wife, as a domestic help. The young, God-fearing woman , always wrapped in a chador, from one of the poor suburbs of Tehran is supposed to look after his father during the day. Accompanied by her young daughter Somayeh, she takes on the job for little wages to pay off the debts of her unemployed husband.

Razieh is quickly overwhelmed with caring for the old man. When he wet herself, she is unsure whether she is allowed to undress and wash him for religious reasons. So after the first day she wants to refer the position to her husband. This is tricky because he does not know anything about your employment relationship, but should have given his permission under Iranian law. In the short term, however, it is set by its creditors and they represent it. - Nader comes home early one afternoon and finds his father alone, lying unconscious next to the bed and tied to the bed with one arm. To make matters worse, he notices that there is a lack of money (not knowing that Simin used it to pay for moving workers). The returning Razieh apologizes with an urgent deal. Nader does not accept that, scolds a thief and expels her from the apartment. Beside herself, she wants the accusation of stealing removed from the world and is reluctant until he forcibly pushes her out the door. - In the evening his wife informs him that Razieh is in the hospital. There they find out that the young woman has lost her unborn son in the fifth month and meet her husband Hodjat, who in his irascibility can hardly be tamed and who physically attacks both of them.

They'll see each other again in court. Razieh faces charges of mistreating the old man, and Nader even of manslaughter , should it be proven that he was aware of Razieh's pregnancy. Termeh's teacher testifies in his favor, but is then threatened by Hodjat and backs down. Simin also believes Termeh is in danger and urges Nader to pay the family blood money . He thinks it amounts to an admission of guilt. He finally confesses to his daughter, who stubbornly longs for the truth, that she knew about the pregnancy; she protects him in court with a false testimony. Hodjat is torn between the urge to quench his thirst for vengeance on one of the "established" and the prospect of financial compensation should he drop the charges. When it is certain that the men will come to an out-of-court settlement, Razieh confesses to Simin that she was run over a day before she was released while she was looking for Nader's father, who had left the house unnoticed. In the presence of Hodjat's creditors, the planned act still takes place. Surprisingly, Nader wishes that Razieh should swear on the Koran beforehand that he was to blame for the death of her child. She cannot bring herself to do that, her fear of God's punishment is too great for that. The guilt for the damage to her husband's reputation now weighs no less heavily on her. Completely desperate, she accuses Simin of ignoring her request not to pay the sinful money.

So nothing has been resolved, everything has gotten worse. Termeh's hope that her parents will find each other again is not fulfilled either. They also want the child to decide for themselves who they want to live with from now on. Termeh is ready to express her decision to the family judge, but does not want to do so in the presence of Nader and Simin.

Emergence

Although designed as an intimate play , Farhadi's film deals with an eminently political problem that affects and moves many of his compatriots: to stay or to leave? Around one million Iranians left their homeland between 1950 and 2005 . For almost everyone it is an either / or, and in the event of departure a “journey of no return”. Farhadi, as an internationally renowned artist , does not want to be forced into permanent exile ; As important as it is to him to be able to go abroad, it is just as important to him not to slam the "door behind him".

This was also the case in 2009 when he was in Berlin and working on a film. A familiar Iranian tune rang out from an adjoining room, touching him so much that he spontaneously decided to return home and start another script. The Green Movement was in full swing. Subconsciously, Farhadi said later, he was looking for an excuse (and found it in music) to witness this time of political turmoil. Atmospherically, it was also included in his script for Nader and Simin .

However, he describes a scene that seems quite private as the cinematic nucleus. It is an experience of his brother with their grandfather who has Alzheimer's disease. He was about to wash it in the bathroom when he suddenly realized that this once seasoned man was just "body", shrunk to a "nothing", which overwhelmed him emotionally that he began to cry. (From a purely external point of view, Farhadi implemented this scene, which manages without any word, in exactly the same way, but also offers the viewer other possibilities of interpretation.)

The shooting was preceded by months of rehearsals, which Farhadi understood as a process of mutual give and take. He himself discovered new facets in his characters, which found their way into his script. In addition to working on individual scenes, he also gave certain actors advice on how to sharpen the profile of their characters. Sareh Bayat , who played the Razieh, for example, recommended wearing the chador , praying and reading the Koran outside of rehearsals . At first, according to Farhadi, like most actors, she was skeptical, but then followed his advice, which eventually helped her to gradually transform herself into her character. You can also tell in her role that she feels uncomfortable in the presence of the opposite sex; He attributes this to the fact that he advised her to speak as little as possible to men.

The inspiration for the figure of Termeh came from Farhadi's own daughter, Sarina. So it was clear to him from the start that she should play it herself. As he wrote, he noticed two things: how little he knew his daughter and that the film character Termeh, whom he was developing, differed from her in many ways. The conversations that Sarina had with him therefore often revolved around the question: How does Termeh behave in this and that situation, how would I behave?

When it was the turn of the final scene (in which Termeh is supposed to tell the family judge her decision in favor of mother or father), Sarina surprised her father with the request to be allowed to play her without a prior rehearsal. Usually, according to Farhadi, he does not get involved, but made an exception here. Sarina later commented on her wish as follows: The moment it crystallized out, she felt as an actress for the first time and only thought about playing the scene the way she wanted it to be. - So it became; that is, the scene that the film shows was shot only once and is exactly your interpretation. It was “a great pleasure” for Farhadi that she was able to portray it so accurately without instructions.

The censorship requires an Iranian director that his film must conform to Islamic norms. One of these rules is that the female body, with the exception of the hands and arms, must be completely covered. This also applies to the domestic area, regardless of the fact that other rules apply there, for example headgear is usually removed. Some filmmakers draw the conclusion from this that they completely forego scenes from the private sphere. Farhadi does not go that way. He adheres to the applicable norms, no matter where, accepts that not everything is “right”, but allows himself freedom in details with “subtle means” in order to approach reality in his own way.

However, when Nader and Simin came into being, it was not possible to completely avoid intervention by state authorities . In response to Farhadi's public statement that exiled filmmakers should be allowed to return to Iran, filming was stopped. “Of course we were very worried,” recalls Babak Karimi , the judge's actor, “we worked so intensely and with such great enthusiasm on the film.” After a “painful forced break” of ten days, filming could be continued.

reception

The film was seen by German-language critics as a favorite for the main prize at the Berlinale.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung remarked that it was hard to imagine that the jury could walk past the film. “In his script, Farhadi has interwoven the individual strands of his story in such a way that it seems that it is only just unfolding before our eyes and we would witness how it begins to circle and finally forms a noose from which no one can break free can. ” Jodaeiye Nader az Simin , like Farhadi's predecessor film Alles über Elly (Director Award of the Berlinale 2009 ), is characterized by its“ ability to observe everyday life ”. Farhadi tells "perfectly to the point" of the "importance of the political" in private, "without ever naming the political background", according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung . Similar noticed the daily newspaper , which also praised actor Peyman Moadi. Jodaeiye Nader az Simin makes “the distorted moral and legal conceptions of a neurotic system clear. Arbitrariness and chance determine the luck or unhappiness of the individual. "

The Frankfurter Rundschau noted that Jodaeiye Nader az Simin was a "well-acted and - apart from one script weakness - well-made film" and a darling of the audience. It is all too obvious why the Iranian censors submitted it for the festival: “A clever judge and patient police officers who do not exert the slightest pressure do not do badly to a dictatorship. The film arouses no doubt about the legal system of a state that imprisons its critics. ” Die Zeit rated it as a“ precisely drawn nightmare ”, which Panahi's open letter at the start of the Berlinale said . The “high point so far” of the competition tells of gender and class conflicts and is “as great as it is dismaying. A chamber play in which all of Iran has a place ”.

The American review service Rotten Tomatoes listed only one negative out of 141 reviews, with an average rating of 8.9 out of 10 possible points.

In 2016, Nader and Simin took ninth place in a BBC survey of the 100 most important films of the 21st century .

Awards

At the International Fajr Film Festival , Nader and Simin - A Separation received awards for best director and best screenplay. As part of the 61st Berlin International Film Festival ( Berlinale ) in 2011, the film won the festival's main prize with the Golden Bear and the Silver Bear for the best male and female acting ensemble , the Ecumenical Jury Prize and the Berliner Morgenpost Readers' Jury Prize . For the first time in the history of the Berlinale, the main prize and both actor awards were given to a film production. Further awards followed in the same year at the Durban International Film Festival (Best Film), the Fukuoka International Film Festival (Audience Award), the Melbourne International Film Festival (“Most Popular Feature Film”), and the Pula Film Festival (International Competition - Best Film ), Festival Internacional de Cine de Donostia-San Sebastián (“TVE Otra Mirada Award”), Sydney Film Festival (best film) and Yerevan International Film Festival (best film).

At the 2012 Academy Awards , Nader and Simin - A Separation were the first Iranian candidate to win an Oscar in the category of Best Foreign Language Film . He also received a nomination for Best Original Screenplay. In 2011/12, the New York Film Critics Circle , the National Board of Review , the National Society of Film Critics and the Broadcast Film Critics Association named Nader and Simin as best foreign and foreign language film, respectively. In 2012, the film won the Golden Globe Award and the César for Best Foreign Language Film and the London Critics' Circle Film Award in the categories of Best Foreign Language Film and Best Screenplay.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Release certificate for Nader and Simin - A separation . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , July 2011 (PDF; test number: 128 364 K).
  2. a b Katja Nicodemus: The people very close . In: Die Zeit , No. 8/2011, p. 61
  3. a b c d e f g h Auberi Edler: Once upon a time ... Nader and Simin - A separation . Folamour & Arte France, 2013.
  4. Berlinale finale: partial explosion and clear favorites . In: Der Standard , February 18, 2011, p. 3
  5. Good deals - and first prices . In: Der Tagesspiegel , February 19, 2011, p. 27
  6. Tim Schleider: When the Adlon blows up . In: Stuttgarter Zeitung , February 19, 2011, p. 31
  7. Peter Zander: Morgenpost readers' award goes to the great Berlinale favorite . In: Berliner Morgenpost , February 19, 2011, p. 23
  8. Divorce in Persian . In: FAZ , February 16, 2011, p. 30
  9. Susan Vahabzadeh: Calm in the Storm . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , February 16, 2011, p. 15
  10. ^ Andreas Fanizadeh : Neurotic System . In: taz , February 16, 2011, p. 27
  11. Daniel Kothenschulte: Between Truth and Lies . In: Frankfurter Rundschau, February 16, 2011, p. 34
  12. rottentomatoes.com
  13. Farhadi's 'Nader Simin' sacks 3 Fajr Film Fest prizes . ( Memento of the original from February 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. IRIB World Service, February 18, 2011 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / english.irib.ir
  14. Reason for the award of the Ecumenical Jury Berlinale 2011 ( Memento of the original from February 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gep.de
  15. ^ Prizes from independent juries at berlinale.de, February 19, 2011
  16. Official press release at oscars.org, October 13, 2011 (accessed November 5, 2011)