A Separation (2011)
A Separation, from the Iranian director and screenwriter Asghar Farhadi, is about truths, mistruths, and all kinds of tests of faith, but it begins and ends with a couple at odds about how to take care of their family. While Simin (Leila Hatami) doesn’t want to raise her daughter, Termeh (Sarina Farhadi), in Iran, Nader (Peyman Moaadi), her husband, has an ailing father to look after. The trouble starts when Simin moves out, and Nader must hire an aide. Thick with cultural insights and ethical ambiguity (A.O. Scott called it “a rigorously honest movie about the difficulties of being honest”),
A Separation was littered with accolades, among them the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2012.