Yay, first post on MUBI!
Yes, there’re definitely similarities in style between About Elly and A Separation. If you can track down a copy, you ought to see Farhadi’s third film (About Elly is his fourth; A Separation, fifth), entitled Fireworks Wednesday. It is also thematically similar, dealing with lies, family relationships, class struggles and a bit of political commentary for good measure. These three films really seem to form a trilogy in my mind—I’ve heard it called the “Lie” trilogy somewhere—and while I don’t think Fireworks Wednesday is quite as good as the other two, it’s definitely worth watching.
Welcome Longstreth!
I am definitely interested in seeing About Elly and any of his other films. Hopefully they will become more accessible now that A Separation has garnered so much attention.
Chavdar
Given all the (deserved) hype about A Separation, I’d like to bring attention to Asghar Farhadi’s previous film About Elly. I don’t think it is inferior in any way to his last year’s hit, even both films are quite similar in themes and style. They seem to complement each other. Unfortunately, these are the only films of this director I have seen, so any opinions about Farhadi’s work would be interesting to hear.