--- title: "A Separation: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/a-separation/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/a-separation" critics_score: 83 critics_reviews: 11 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # A Separation (2011): what the critics said Critics' score 83 from 11 reviews: 10 positive, 0 mixed, 1 negative. Most critics praise A Separation as a gripping domestic drama whose disputes expose divisions of class, religion, gender and generation. Praise centres on Farhadi’s precise writing and generosity towards competing viewpoints: the reviews repeatedly note how sympathy shifts without the film settling into easy judgements. The performances, particularly the daughter’s quiet watchfulness, draw admiration, while the mobile camerawork and staging reinforce the uncertainty over what each character knows. Several reviews find the children’s position especially affecting, giving the moral questions an immediate human cost. The spread is strongly favourable, with one sharp dissent rather than a broad set of shared reservations. The New Yorker admires the opening but finds that visual tension fades, leaving schematic, plot-driven moral puzzles with too little resonance or imagination. That objection cuts directly across the prevailing view: most critics regard the intricate plotting as a source of suspense and complexity rather than a constraint. ## Slant Magazine — Nick Schager Rating 4/4. 30 September 2011. The critic calls it a superb drama, noting its empathy for competing points of view. It is singled out for recognizing how facts, lies and self-interest are tangled without providing definitive statements. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/a-separation/) ## Evening Standard Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 10 April 2012. The critic highlights the film’s profound moral depth and restraint, presenting a series of conundrums in a style close to documentary that makes viewers reconsider actions and consequences. The universal story of a child torn between separating parents is engrossing and wrenching. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/a-separation-review-7425575.html) ## Film Comment — Godfrey Cheshire Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). The critic praises Farhadi as a major new auteur whose film stands out for its emotional and moral complexity, with sympathies shifting fluidly among characters in a layered domestic and class drama. The intricate staging with glass partitions and mobile camerawork is singled out as matching the story's shifting perspectives. [Read the review](https://www.filmcomment.com/article/scenes-from-a-marriage/) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 30 June 2011. This powerful, complex Iranian drama centres on a conflict that cuts across boundaries of gender and class. Farhadi transforms an ugly quarrel into a contemporary tragedy, with the children bearing the heaviest burden. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jun/30/a-separation-review) ## Empire — David Parkinson Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 27 June 2011. The critic praises Farhadi’s densely plotted, morally complex drama that exposes divisions throughout Iranian society through a legal struggle sparked by divorce and family obligations. Restless camerawork highlights unspoken suspicions in a nation far from united. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/separation-review/) ## Screen Daily Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 15 February 2011. Festival review. The critic calls it a gripping moral and social drama that lifts Farhadi to the front rank of contemporary world directors. They single out the way it keeps compassion for the two children afloat while raising complex questions of responsibility and truth. [Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/nader-and-simin-a-separation/5023837.article) ## Little White Lies — Julian White Rating 3/4/4. 30 June 2011. The critic finds it a deceptively powerful and gripping drama by one of Iran’s finest directors. They single out the precision of Farhadi’s writing, the spryness of his direction and the generosity of his outlook. [Read the review](https://lwlies.com/reviews/a-separation) ## Time Out — Dave Calhoun Rating 4/5. 28 June 2011. The critic praises the film as lively and suspenseful drama and debate that plunges viewers into life in Tehran with an urgent sense of reality. They single out its strong writing, characterisation, acting and morally teasing dynamic. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/a-separation) ## The New Yorker — Richard Brody Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 2 January 2012. The critic finds the opening scene audacious but laments that the rest of the film loses visual tension and becomes a schematic collection of events without symbol, resonance or imagination. It singles out the plot-driven moral puzzles arising from the separation. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/a-separation-parting-shots) ## The Hollywood Reporter — Deborah Young 15 February 2011. Festival review. The critic finds it a tensely involving Iranian drama with niche potential. It is praised for its moral, psychological and social complexity that brings Iranian society into focus without taking sides with any characters. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/a-separation-film-review-99930/) ## The New York Times — A.O. Scott Rating Critic's Pick. 29 December 2011. The critic praises the film's rigorous honesty about the difficulties of truth and its portrait of a society divided by sex, generation, religion and class. It singles out the subtlety of the performances, particularly the quiet, watchful portrayal by the young daughter. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/30/movies/a-separation-directed-by-asghar-farhadi-review.html) ## The Skinny — Lewis Porteous Rating ★★★★★. 17 November 2011. The critic calls it the year's finest example of complex, humanistic Iranian filmmaking, highlighting Farhadi's Hitchcockian suspense and the faultless cast. The sympathetic, recognisable portrayal of modern Iranians navigating class, religion, family and responsibility is singled out for praise. [Read the review](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/dvd-reviews/a-separation) ## Eye for Film — Jennie Kermode Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 28 June 2011. Festival review. The film draws viewers into a complex, believable scenario of marital and social tensions in contemporary Iran, inviting judgment while showing that nothing is simple. It is well acted and thoughtful, using a realistically messy plot to explore strong central themes of class, honor, and moral ambiguity in a society in flux. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/a-separation-film-review-by-jennie-kermode) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/a-separation.md