A Separation (2011)

IMDb Listing
This is one of the very best movies of the year, an Iranian film about a couple going through the process of a divorce when the husband gets into legal trouble. I’m unwilling to give much more of a plot description than that, because it unfolds in unpredicatable and surprising ways. One of the more interesting things about the movie is the way that it plays with audience sympathies and the alliances between the characters within the film. We’re constantly seeing characters in different ways as more is revealed of their character, and it’s easy to empathize with each of them at different times. But this dynamic is also going on within the story, as the characters themselves are seeing different shades of each other and their own opinions are constantly being challenged and revised. It also is very observant of how conflicts between adults play out from a child’s perspective, focusing not so much on how traumatic the conflict is for children, but on how they look up to adults and learn from them as examples. Plus, it’s just an amazing piece of filmmaking, with top-notch writing, direction, editing, and acting. 10/10