As acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi prepares to return to the Cannes Film Festival with his highly anticipated new feature, Parallel Tales, the global cinematic community is also celebrating a major milestone: the 15th anniversary of his groundbreaking masterpiece, A Separation.
Originally debuted at the 2011 Berlin Film Festival, A Separation rapidly became an international phenomenon, capturing the hearts of critics and audiences worldwide and ultimately winning the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. The movie is widely recognized as a poignant, universal exploration of human relationships, moral ambiguity, and the fragile condition of the modern family.
Shahab Hosseini on the Universal Boundaries of Human Experience
At the heart of the film’s enduring power are its deeply authentic performances. Reflecting on his intense and unforgettable role as Hojjat, Seven Skies Entertainment’s own Shahab Hosseini previously shared his perspective on why the film resonated so deeply across different cultures:
“I have always been interested in roles that approach the boundaries of shared human experience—because that is where concepts become understandable to all people despite their differences. Poverty is one such shared boundary. There are people whose lives amount to nothing more than the cost of being alive—and beyond fate, the policies shaping life in our time often intensify these conditions.”
A Visual Masterpiece of Emotional Turbulence
The film’s visual narrative also played a crucial role in conveying its tense, psycho-political atmosphere. Celebrated cinematographer Mahmoud Kalari noted that his extensive background in photojournalism allowed him to frame the characters within an “anxious background,” introducing controlled yet agitated movements that perfectly mirrored the characters’ inner turmoil.
Fifteen years later, A Separation remains a definitive milestone in world cinema, proving that deeply localized storytelling can achieve timeless, universal relevance without ever losing its cultural specificity.
This feature was inspired by and adapted from the original retrospective published by the Golden Globes. Read the full analysis on the Golden Globes Official Website.
