Movie 4 d week : About Elly (2009)

Review written by Vinoo
Language : Persian
Director : Asghar Farhadi

Sepideh invites Elly, her daughter’s kindergarten teacher, on a holiday with three families and their kids at a beachside resort. Elly is not initially aware that Sepideh’s real agenda is to set her up with her cousin Ahmad who is just back from a break up with his German? wife. Elly wants to go back home as she has not informed her mother of a long break. While she is walking by the beachside the kids are playing in the water. One of the kids gets washed away and is luckily washed back to the shore. Simultaneously Elly goes missing. The kids are not able to clarify if Elly did go after the drowning boy and drowned herself in the process. Gradually Sepideh’s husband tries reaching Elly and figures her mobile phone is hidden in Sepideh’s bag. This leads to suspicion and Sepideh is forced to reveal all. Elly’s engagement to a man she doesn’t like and that Sepideh was only trying to help her out of a bad relationship by fixing her up with Ahmad. Cheating on a man she is engaged to is tantamount to an illicit relationship in Iran. Suddenly the entire group turns against Elly. Sepideh asks what if Elly drowned trying to save your kid. Elly turns from good to bad to good in the eyes of the family members. The film culminates with Elly’s fiancé landing up at the beachside resort and at the same time Elly’s body is washed ashore. You are not let in on whether she drowned trying to save the kid or if she committed suicide unable to solve the dilemma of being stuck in a relationship she does not want and a liking she develops for Ahmad. The change in human relationships over minor incidents is handled brilliantly. Also you don’t realize what really happened to Elly but you are glued to the story like you are part of it all. Every scene seems to reveal a bit of the story but you figure it really doesn’t, not even at the very end. Quoting Ahmad from the film “A bitter ending is better than an endless bitterness”. Aye!
I am a great fan of Iranian films. This one is very unlike the usual set of Iranian films though. Riveting to say the least. Almost like a suspense thriller. Other films of Asghar Farhadi, none of which I have watched, include ‘Dancing in the Dust’, Beautiful City’ and ‘Fireworks Wednesday’. Hope to access these too.
Watched “Ishqiya’. I quite like it and so did my friend who watched it with me. I am biased. Gulzar, Vishal Bharadwaj, Naseeruddin Shah, Vidya Balan what more could you ask for. Fabulous debut for Abhishek Chaubey. The characterization could surely have been better but the entire cast including Arshad Warsi delivers. Also watched ‘LSD’. Loved it even more cos I watched it with a real good friend after many many years. Three in a row for Dibakar Banerjee who dares to speak the truth. ‘Tamil Padam’ was a fun watch and Gautam Menon’s ‘Vinnaithandi Varuvaya’ is worth a watch.
Been humming “Dil to baccha hai jee’ and ‘Aromale’ for a while now.
Useless trivia : This was Iran’s official entry at the Academy Awards for the Best Foreign Language Film in 2010. President Ahmadenijad ordered this film be screened at the Fajr International Film Festival, Teheran.
Golshifteh Farahani who also starred in ‘Body of Lies’. ‘About Elly’ was her first film to be screened in Iran after a ban on films she starred in.