Thanks to the huge critical success of Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation his earlier films are now finally receiving a release here in the UK. About Elly exists in the same educated middle class world as his award winning follow-up and deals with similarly complex character issues. The story is focused on a close group of 30-something friends as they enjoy a weekend break in a seaside villa. Sepideh, the organiser and focal point of the group, invites her child’s shy teacher (the titular Elly) along in order to matchmake her with Sepideh’s recently divorced friend. To know anymore about the plot would spoil this deftly handled story.

As with A Separation it is a film about lies and consequences. Although…

From one of world cinema's master storytellers & the writer-director of cinematic gems such as A Separation & The Past, About Elly is yet another masterpiece of intricate human drama from Asghar Farhadi which with its extremely gripping, morally challenging & simplest in approach narration turns out to be as riveting a tale of suspense, mystery & realism as the best of the genre can offer.

Filmed with steady control by utilising nothing but simple real-life conversations to move its story forward, making full use of its raw cinematography & clever editing, performed with remarkable naturalness from its entire cast & exploring human nature in an intimate fashion to make a strong, universal statement about the society we live in, About Elly succeeds not only as…

About Elly is the prime example of an excellent director extracting all the sensational elements out of a not otherwise sensational story, maximize its entertainment values, and inject his social commentary into it. It's a gripping, extremely patient slow-burn of how normal everyday life can easily spin out of hand over something as trivial as a reckless decision, well, many reckless decisions.

It starts with cheerful, sunshine-drenched depiction of an Iranian weekend getaway featuring a group of colleagues and friends, until a tragedy suddenly hits the group, and their friendliness fades away and finger pointing takes over. Director Asghar Farhadi was consistent with the nonchalant tone of the movie, except for the shots when the tragedy happens, where you would…

About Elly taught me a lot about why I must always seek to widen the net when it comes to appreciating cinema.

Perhaps it's only, for me, natural to be reluctant to approach a genre of film, or a nation's film output sometimes. It still seems daunting to me if such things have been showered with awards and accolades from highbrow publications and societies, because I'm always fearful that I won't quite have the ability to appreciate the films as much as I always really want to. Or even by people with a highly respected standing right here on this very site.

Yet over the last year or so I've become less experimental with what I watch and have stuck…

"I knew."

For years now, About Elly has been the film I recommend most aggressively to people. It's one of the best I've ever seen, and even on my fifth viewing, I love it more still. I'm always convinced that my friends will love it, too, but they rarely do. I truly believe that About Elly is technically astounding and is helmed by an absolutely incredible lead performance by Golshifteh Farahani and a likewise talented supporting cast. However, I've come to realize just how inherently Iranian this film is, and so much of my enjoyment of it comes from that cultural understanding that most of my American friends don't relate to.

Persian culture is, like any culture, far too complex…

Wow. This is a great film.

Farhadi kept evolving with every new film he made. He still uses a divorce in the film, but that divorce is transformed into a subtext this time in order to apply his own Antonioni-esque plot in a very similar physical setting: the sea, which vastness hides a bloodcurling amount of incomprehensible secrets.

And then again, if we compare both films, we'll realize we are with entirely different universes, and perhaps aren't comparable at all. Truth to be told however, Antonioni's film was a character study of alienation, the disappearance of the character creates a new unspoken attraction between two new leads and becomes a metaphor of the disappearance of the life priorities of oneself's…

62/100

[Originally written on my blog. Note that I saw this before A Separation and The Past; I wonder if my reservations would diminish were I to revisit it now.]

Easy to see why the Berlin jury gave Farhadi their Best Damn Filmatist prize—not only does he have superlative camera sense, but he's working in a complex, highly choreographed Altmanesque mode that resembles nothing else coming out of Iran (for Western import, anyway). Lengthy setup is utterly superb, juggling multiple characters with whirligig economy and offering one compelling stray detail after another; for about 40 minutes the film is nearly plotless, engagingly hectic and easily the best window onto the Iranian middle class I've ever seen (Leila included). Then an…

A bitter ending is better than endless bitterness.

Three years ago when I saw About Elly, it was my first Farhadi. At the time I enjoyed the impeccable acting and meticulous pacing, but for some reason or another, I wasn't totally enchanted.

I was stupid. Really, really stupid.

Having just seen Antonioni's La Avventura several weeks ago, About Elly's most obvious influence stuck out like a sore thumb (I mean, look at the poster). However, this is distinctly Farhadi's take on Antonioni. It's less about the texture of the place and more about the palpable emotions saturating the room.

Farhadi doesn't introduce as many perspective-altering narrative twists as he does in A Separation or in The Past. But, the twists…

About Elly poses many of the same thrilling morality dilemmas that A Separation hosts, as well as still providing ample opportunity to deliver many more gut-wrenching performances from the same actors and actresses who performed in both tragedies. However, the particular fault I find in About Elly is its prolonged exposition for approximately the first third of the film. Although it does set up everything that is to take place, I ponder whether it could have been executed more cleanly.

About Elly remains a sharp insight into the workings of a deprived society (this time across a weekend excursion) but delves specifically into how lies can divide the family. Asghar Farhadi unmistakably manages to weave a real sense of impending…