About Elly

A few years ago, A Separation won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. This Iranian movie was exquisitely acted and director Asghar Farhadi must have been justifiably proud of his work at the helm. Not surprisingly, another one of Farhadi's films has just been released to theaters in the States. However, oddly, it's actually a film he made before A Separation! About Elly is from 2009 and once again features superb acting.

The film is set during a holiday in Iran. A group of friends have decided on a brief trip together and are using it to try to set up their friend, Ahmad, with a pretty young lady named Elly. Most of these friends don't know Elly--but Sepideh does and thinks she'll be a good match for the guy. The first portion of the film seems pretty mundane with the usual banter you'd expect during a holiday getaway. However, things turn dark when one of the small children nearly drowns. The boy is saved but after the confusion dies down, everyone starts to wonder where Elly got to. Perhaps she jumped in the water to try to save the boy and drowned herself or perhaps she just left. After all, she DID insist on going home the following morning...and it was the following morning when the boy nearly died. What's next? See the film.

This movie is an interesting character study as well as a cautionary tale about lies and half-truths. Once again, Farhadi did a wonderful job with the film and the actors really deserve kudos for their realistic performances. In particular, I noticed that the children really seemed scared when they should have been and the adults later begin to show definite signs of stress. It was hard to tell that they were really acting--as if Farhadi actually did something to the actress playing Elly!

Despite my loving the acting and direction, I'll admit that this is certainly not a film for everyone. Some folks don't like films with subtitles, some will find the subject matter a bit too mundane and some might be a bit put off by the ending. I didn't mind the first two minor concerns but I, too, thought the ending was perhaps a bit weak. Still, the film is a marvelous showcase for the folks involved and deserves to be seen. Well worth your time if you can find it in your local theaters--which isn't always easy with foreign language movies.

To say the most important thing first: 'All about Elly' requires unmitigated attention from the viewer. I actually watched it in the Berlin Festival last year, but didn't think too much of it as I was distracted. Since it won the Silver Bear and was voted by Iranian critics the best national film ever, I decided to give it another shot on DVD, and as it works sometimes, I realized that this film is not only a true gem, but one of those rare, timeless classics that may help to explain to posterity the reality of generations past.

What lulled me into a mistaken sense of boredom upon my first viewing was the unassuming start of the film. The simplicity of the plot - a group of young Tehrani couples going on a seaside weekend trip, with one of the wives trying to act as a matchmaker between a female colleague and an expat on vacation from Germany - is presented in such low-key fashion that if you don't know what's coming (and I didn't) it's hard to focus on the subtle hints of possible conflict. Also, while I've been to Iran and consider myself vaguely familiar with the complexities of life there, of course as a mere visitor you can catch but a fraction of what things mean, and since this is very much a jump into an unknown society, you really have to blank your mind to catch the drift of what the characters say.

Ironically, that's a stark contradiction to the usual Iranian festival fair: Kiarostami works a lot with metaphor (which he often endlessly repeats to drive the message home), Panahi with situation developments (which he exploits to the utmost degree to drive the message home), and therefore their works do not require much background info, though it sure helps. Farhadi's film asks for a bit more audience participation, as much of the conflict in the second half of the film stems from Iranian social reality, I would think. That is what, on my second viewing, convinces me of the timeless quality of this film: never before have I seen a director pull so much substance out of so little plot and setting.

Just because 'All about Elly' appears to be simple at first, it is actually really deep; once I suspected that every frame in this film means something and is not just there, I entered an alternate visual language, which then communicated the urgency of what Elly's disappearance meant to me. I felt that this film thereby manages to tell me emotionally what I could rationally never fully comprehend: what it means to actually live in a country like that. No other film from Iran has ever done that for me, and I've rarely seen a film from another culture that managed to do so. So I would assume that Farhadi has taken directing to another level here.

What's more: this isn't just a very artistic way to convey a message, it's also very entertaining. For once I was drawn into the characters, their sense of alarm and suspense kept me on the edge until the very end. There's a decent dose of Hitchcock in 'All about Elly' as unreal as that may sound. That's the real charm of this film: although it's demanding in terms of familiarity with the setting, it's international in its depiction of emotions anyone from anywhere can relate to.

In conclusion: Definitely not to be missed if you are just as much as remotely interested in Iran, or have a sweet tooth for excellent direction (though the French term 'mise-en-scène' hits the mark in this case). This is the kind of movie that should become part the curriculum of film students around the globe.

i didn't really know what to expect of this film so went to watch it quite blank, the cinema was packed with a mixed crowd which was promising.

i was drawn to the characters and their different personalities immediately.they were very believable and you almost felt as if you were there.

the film was very natural and the shots were nice and tidy, as a lot of foreign or arty films end up being too 'diffeent', this was easy to watch. as the plot became more complex the viewing was compelling and the director created suspense very well and built it up slowly.

the actresses and actors were really great, adding to the story's realism. as we the audience started to try and piece the mysteries of the story you just had to keep watching. i recommend it, the location was really pretty too.

i was happy to know there was a ending as a lot of foreign films end with no ending!!!! but this was satisfying however i would add that it became a little too long towards the end and some may have wanted a different ending to that chosen.

all together an excellent film to watch.

You can't breathe, you can not even shout, you can not cry, you'll be just stay fascinated till the end and the final music is just as fantastic as the whole movie itself; The roles are played by some of the best actors and actresses of Iran, who actually LIVE the roles and you just get engaged with everything that's going on there as if you are one of them; I loved it so much; Thanks to Asghar Farhadi for always making us such good movies; I do recommend everyone to see this if the haven't yet; I'm gonna see it again for sure....... I really love the scene where the sound of Eli gets mixed with the cruel sound of Sea which really makes you nervous; gives some notices about the upcoming events;

Based on my opinion, this movie was even better that A Saparation, an award winning Farhadi's film.

Farhadi proves adept at controlling the tone of his film. By slowly setting up the situation and the complex nexus of relationships between the characters, he lulls the audience into thinking the film will continue in a comic mode until Elly's disappearance. From then on, the film takes a serious tone. Lies come back to haunt the characters, and the consequences of these are unforgiving. Some of these lies were told due to particular proprieties necessary within Iranian society. The brilliance of Farhadi's script and direction becomes most apparent in the latter stages of the film. As one secret after another is revealed, Farhadi deftly maps out the shifts in the perceptions and behaviour of the characters toward each other as well as the viewer's perception of the characters. Farhadi's cast is uniformly excellent, especially Farahani, who compellingly registers Sepideh's shock at how her seemingly innocent matchmaking has taken such a tragic turn, as well as the way her character, like others in the film, is revealed to not be what it initially appears.