Asghar Farhadi

Asghar Farhadi (born January 1, 1972, Eṣfahān, Iran) is an Iranian filmmaker whose dramas examine ethical problems and contradictions arising from social class, gender, and religion in modern Iran. He is perhaps best known for Jodāi-e Nāder az Simin (2011; A Separation) and Forushande (2016; The Salesman), both of which won an Academy Award for best foreign-language film.

Farhadi began making short films while he was a teenager. He studied drama at the University of Tehrān and earned a master’s degree (1998) in theatre direction from Tarbiat Modares University, Tehrān. While completing his studies, he wrote a number of radio plays for Iran’s national broadcasting service and directed several television programs.

In 2001 Farhadi cowrote the screenplay for the political satire Ertefā-e past (2002; Low Heights). In 2003 he directed his first feature film, Raghṣ dar ghobār (Dancing in the Dust), about a young man who flees to the desert after being forced to divorce his wife over rumours that her mother is a prostitute; Farhardi also penned the screenplay, as he would for most of his films. He next made Shahr-e zībā (2004; Beautiful City), which explores the concept of justice through the story of an 18-year-old prisoner awaiting execution for the murder of his girlfriend while his sister works to save his life by trying to persuade the murdered girl’s father to give his consent for clemency. Chahārshanbe Sūrī (2006; Fireworks Wednesday) examines the strained marriage of a middle-class Tehrān couple during Chahārshanbe Sūrī, the feast preceding Nowrūz, the Persian New Year festival. In Darbāreye Elī (2009; About Elly), conflicts and emotional revelations arise when a young teacher disappears while vacationing with a group of friends at a seaside cabin. For the drama, Farhadi won the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival’s Silver Bear award for best director.

Because Farhadi’s films rarely addressed political themes directly, he largely avoided serious conflicts with the Iranian government. Iranian cultural officials briefly banned Farhadi from filmmaking in September 2010 after a speech in which he made comments in support of Jafar Panahi and Mohsen Makhmalbaf, two prominent filmmakers and critics of the Iranian government. A month later officials announced that Farhadi had apologized, and they permitted him to complete work on Jodāi-e Nāder az Simin. The movie tells the story of a middle-class Iranian couple on the brink of divorce whose lives become entangled, in a series of tragic events, with those of a religious working-class family. Critics praised the film’s sophisticated narrative structure as well as the empathetic depictions of characters with different backgrounds facing complex moral dilemmas. In addition to the Oscar, it won Berlin’s Golden Bear award for best film.

Farhadi continued to explore domestic turmoil in Le Passé (2013; The Past), which centres on an Iranian man who travels from Tehrān to Paris in order to finalize his divorce so his estranged French wife can remarry, and in Forushande (2016; The Salesman), about a couple whose relationship becomes strained after the wife is assaulted. The latter drama earned particular acclaim, notably winning the Oscar for best foreign-language film. He then wrote and directed the Spanish-language film Todos lo saben (2018; Everybody Knows), which starred Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem as Laura and Paco, former lovers who grow closer when Laura’s daughter is kidnapped. In his next film, Ghahreman (2021; A Hero), a businessman on a two-day leave from debtors’ prison attempts to secure an early release, but his plan goes awry; Farhadi also penned the drama.