15 juin 2011

A Separation (Farhadi)

 جدایی نادر از سیمین 
(Jodaeiye Nader az Simin )
A Separation (2011/Asghar Farhadi/Iran) 15 February 2011 - Berlinale 2011 [PDF]
  • Golden Bear (Best film)
  • Silver Bear (Best actresses ensemble : Sarina Farhadi, Sareh Bayat, Leila Hatami)
  • Silver Bear (Best actors ensemble : Shahab Hosseini, Peyman Moadi, Ali-Asghar Shahbazi, Babak Karimi)
  • Prize of the Ecumenical Jury

Press conference Berlinale 2011 [video 41'19"]
Release:
  • Iran (16 March 2011)
  • France (8 June 2011)
  • UK (1st July 2011)
  • Germany (14 July 2011)
A Separation opened commercially in France on 180 screens (208 screens on 2nd week=3.8% of total available screens! for comparison, Kung Fu Panda 2 opens on 800 screens = 14.5% of available screens), only 4 months after its world première. 180 screens (on a total of 5500 screens in France) is quite exceptional for a foreign film in Farsi, even in France. It was close second BO gross on first week. This said, Rafi Pitts' The Hunter only opened on 2 commercial screens (not in a museum though!) this same week, unfortunately.
Let's see on how many screens it will open in the UK (on a total of 3500 screens nationwide; for comparison Kung Fu Panda 2 opened on 400 screens = 12% of available screens) next month, and in the USA (on a total of 40000 screens nationwide; for comparison Kung Fu Panda 2 opened on 4000 screens = 10% of available screens)... if it ever comes out on a commercial screen. This will be an interesting test of cinephilia.

With his last 3 films (Fireworks Wednesday, 2006; About Elly, 2009; A Separation, 2011), Asghar Farhadi made 3 excellent films ranking each time in the best of the year. I didn't see his 2 first feature films preceding this trio. He installs himself as one of the best filmmakers working in the world today, and comes out of the shadow of Kiarostami, Makhmalbaf and Panahi, as a great of Persian cinema in his own right, for the western audience who recalls only the few celebrity names that define a national cinema.

4 commentaires:

HarryTuttle a dit…

"Entre l'Iran et la France, entre 2009 et 2011, Manon Loizeau est parvenue à recueillir clandestinement des témoignages de l'intérieur sur deux années de révolte et de répression."

Chroniques d'un Iran interdit (France, 2010, 90mn) Arte / YouTube (diffusion temporaire!)

HarryTuttle a dit…

Opening week in France for A Separation: 151217 admissions
230 prints on 2nd week (180 on 1st week)

HarryTuttle a dit…

Updated box office numbers (September 2011) here

HarryTuttle a dit…

A Separation tops the 2011 Public Prize of French radio show Le Masque et la Plume