How Are Women Represented In A Separation?

Due to the subject matter of the article written by Najmeh Moradiyan Rizi, I focused on the relationships between women and how women are represented in A Separation (2011.) “Critical perspectives on traditional, arranged marriage, patriarchal family, male prerogative laws, as well as portrayals of female self-expression and independency, heterosexual and homosexual relations, and transgender problems are some of the main cinematic themes of Iranian cinema,” of the aforementioned themes, A Separation can be viewed as portraying a patriarchal family structure and, arguably, female independency although I would debate that the women in the film were dependent on each other in order to navigate the male-dominated world they live in. Throughout the film, there was a notable amount of solidarity among the women shown, even unnamed female characters, which is shown to be necessary considering the portrayal of men in the film. …show more content…
Within the first five minutes of the film, the patriarchal family theme is established in the legal proceedings in which Simin and Nader disagree over who should have custody of their daughter, Termeh, the judge rules that, “She can’t leave without her father’s permission.” (0:04:19) Additionally, Nader solidifies this viewpoint toward the end of the film when he blatantly yells at Simin, shouting “You don’t have the right to do anything.” (1:44:28) Understandably, women are constantly shown relying on one another in A Separation; for instance, when Miss Ghahraii offered Razieh the doctor’s phone number and reassured her that the doctor was female, or how Razieh called Simin after Nader’s father soiled himself, and even though Simin gave Razieh Nader’s phone number, she did not call