Everybody Knows by Asghar Farhadi – one of the best directors and writers in the world, my note on A Separation is at https://realini.blogspot.com/2017/11/note-on-separation-writer-director.html where you find thousands of other reviews - 10 out of 10

 

Everybody Knows by Asghar Farhadi – one of the best directors and writers in the world, my note on A Separation is at https://realini.blogspot.com/2017/11/note-on-separation-writer-director.html where you find thousands of other reviews

 

10 out of 10

 

A Separation is one of the best films I have seen, the day before yesterday I saw it for the second time, and yes, these lines are about Separation, my opinion on Everybody Knows is that albeit it is a very good film, it is not on the level of Separation, A Hero or The Salesman – I will post my takes on all three on my blog

 

A spoiler alert on two counts, one is that Everybody Knows is out of the picture by now, and then I may write about what happens in A Separation, towards the end, however, we will not have too many unhappy customers, for not many go beyond the first line, and then who will wants to read something on one movie and complain there are details on another, once he decides to pursue the reading beyond the point where all is clear

Nader and Simin are about to get A Separation, the opening scenes in this magnum opus have them in front of a judge, arguing, the woman is Simin aka the spectacular Leila Hatami – the qualms I had here were connected with my impression that she is a bit too sophisticated, aristocratic if you will for the role of a teacher

 

Nevertheless, we are talking about an ancient culture, fallen into the hands of idiots and fundamentalists, but otherwise, one that goes back millennia, and we can see the traces, this fabulous DNA in the director, the actors and clearly there is a wealth of creativity there, in spite of the oppression of the ayatollahs

Simin wants to leave the country – speaking of those religious fanatics – they have visas, but her husband, Nader aka the equally marvelous Payman Maadi, does not want to go with her, hence The Separation, he has to stay with his father, who is suffering from Alzheimer, and hence does not know him anymore

 

This is the point Simin tries to make, but her spouse says, I know him, we will have complicated issues, moral decisions, this is a thriller, a philosophical masterpiece, an overwhelming chef d’oeuvre, we then see a woman – I am not sure if this was Razieh, but I will use this name – that is supposed to take care of Pedar, the father

Razieh has a child, who seems to be about five, and she is expecting, a state that will be in contention, did Nader know about the pregnancy or not, and she is not sure she can work for the money, if it is withing the religious rules – she will call a hotline presumably, to ask if she can take some action, if it is not forbidden by the Koran

 

Eventually, she comes to work and as soon as she is in, the daughter sees that Pedar had peed himself, and this is when the carer has to call, is she allowed to change the man’s pants, and there is a discussion there, then the man is out, on the street, in a moment when Razieh was busy, she runs for him, and is hit by a car

We will not know this until later, for now, one day, when they return earlier, Nader and his daughter, Termeh, they find his father down, near the bed, tied to it, and nearly dead, so when Razieh is back, the man is furious, he also thinks she had taken money, and he throws her out, insisting she cannot work anymore

 

There is a quarrel, she is very upset because of the accusation of theft, and I am not clear on that, did Simin take the money, notwithstanding that, she falls on the stairs, she has a miscarriage, and the unborn son is killed and…Nader is in court, facing a murder charge, after he was hit by Hojjat aka the excellent Shahab Hosseini

The latter has the leading role in The Salesman, and there will be a note on that, a new I mean, because there is one already at  https://realini.blogspot.com/2017/11/note-on-salesman-aka-forushande-writer.html where, new plug for Nobody – as in Ulysses and the Cyclops – since there is no one reading this now

 

Hojjat is Razieh’s husband, and an angry fellow, he has had no job, he is chased by creditors, just like in A Hero (that post is about to hit the blog) and he had no knowledge of his wife working for the old fellow, and he wants revenge, blood, he has kicked Nader, and in the scuffle, with his elbow, he had even hurt Simin

At the same time, Razieh is also accused, because of what happened with the father, who was in her care, so they cross swords in court, a strange show, the Iranian justice (if we can call it that) allows for the parties to be present, Hojjat is loud and aggressive, granted, the judge pushes back on this, but to have it there is amazing

 

They have to find if Nader had known about the pregnancy, did he push her down the stairs – it seems impossible in a reconstitution – how did he even take her to work, the fundamentalist interpretation of those Shia Taliban has the woman in an inferior position, she is not allowed to travel freely, and there is a lot of abuse

At one point,, there is talk of blood money – I think this is what they called it – a sum to be paid as compensation, that could end the feud, but then we have yet another twist – Aristotle wrote about the importance of the twist, and reversal, the best example given if Oedipus Rex https://realini.blogspot.com/2017/03/oedipus-rex-by-sophocles-and-adapted-by.html - for Razieh has second thoughts, she had checked again with those who interpret the Koran, and she could not take the money, because she is not sure, she had been hit by a car, felt pain, and thus it appears that maybe Nader was not to blame after all…

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”