Though slow to start, once the ball gets rolling, it quickly becomes an unstoppable force.

Following a separation with his wife, a young Iranian man is forced to tend for his 11-year-old daughter and senile father. Though short on cash, he hires a caregiver to help with the housework but soon suspects her of stealing, leading to an altercation that escalates out of control and threatens to destroy both his own family and hers.

Director Asghar Farhadi takes on religion, the law, pride, and patriarchal society with rarely a misstep. No one is clearly in the right or wrong, rather their flaws and strengths are presented, and it's up to you to decide, though I think the broader message is that no one answer is either obvious or workable.

I have a deep love and appreciation for films that explore all the angles and nuances of arguments and conflict, and this is among the best. Farhadi is never afraid to look at how one character's behavior, whether intentional or not, rational or not, affects all the people around them, strangers and family alike, and though the ending may come off as somewhat of a cliche, there's no other way it could work.

More crap can be found here: theflickcast.com/2012/03/03/film-review-a-separation-nats-take/

and is it just me, or does the girl look like Scarlett Johannson and the guy Paul Krugman?