smiljana-859-460774 Pointless and boring. Expected more from the director of "Separatiion". "Past" wasn't bad also, but these "Salesman" and "About Elli" far from good movie maker.

aarosedi Please feel free to skip reading the text that follows this paragraph even though there are no spoilers... This film is best enjoyed immersing yourself in the film and not knowing anything much apart from the title and the director behind it. The audience gets treated to a fine ensemble of brilliant performers that the 21st-century Iranian cinema has to offer. Farahani, Alidoosti, Zare'i, Azadivar, Hosseini, Haghighi, Maadi, Mehranfar, who all gave top-notch performances in what is very much a character study where the audience is presented the complications that arise when someone introduces a stranger to a close-knit peer group and that someone also hides some info about that person that could get them in trouble, and trouble got to them indeed.They all traveled together as a group for a vacation but there is a misunderstanding regarding the accommodations they have booked, the caretakers thinking they were only staying for one day instead of three, and the owner of the lodging set to use it the day after. They then instead had no choice but to take a dilapidated seaside lodging that they have to clean up themselves. Farhadi inserts in this film his commentary regarding the Iranian society's norms that has been unanimously deemed oppressive to women around the world nowadays, regarding traveling restrictions imposed against unmarried couples and the engaged woman seemingly ALMOST a property of her fiance and have to ask permission for everything she does. The audience sees how the characters react once they realised they have trangressed those rules, the gravity attached to such a situation. And these same characters will also display the same regard and urgency to the things people with Western sensibilities believe in. This is why I believe Farhadi belongs to the group of magnificent cinematic greats these days, juxtaposing these cultural elements to evoke empathy from the non-Iranians. Some of the performers in this movie also figured out in Farhadi's other films: Hosseini and Alidoosti in The Salesman, Maadi, Hosseini and Zare'i in A Separation, and I have yet to see Alidoosti in Fireworks Wednesday and The Beautiful City.One heck of a rollercoaster of emotions, this one. I'm a sucker for these kinds of films. Wish Farhadi continues to make more of these kinds of films.This film is, in every way, an antipodic equivalent to Antonioni's L'Avventura.

Bill Phillips Not my favorite Asghar Farhadi movie, but still excellent. Very hard in the beginning to be clear on who all the eight or so adult characters are on the weekend holiday to the seaside. A little tricky remembering who is married to whom, etc. If watching on disc, it might be worth replaying the first half-hour.An interesting insight on Muslim culture in modern day Iran. We Westerners certainly have misunderstood stereotypes. It's such a mix of traditional and modern. Whether intended or not, it really looks awkward (and frankly stupid) for a woman to try to play volleyball in traditional dress with hijab while the men are freely playing in T-shirts and jeans.

Red-125 The Iranian movie Darbareye Elly was show in the U.S. with the title About Elly (2009). It was written and directed by Asghar Farhadi. This excellent movie has been presented as a mystery, but I don't see it that way. I see it more as a film about the interaction of group of friends getting away from the constraints of Tehran to a vacation area on the Caspian Sea. The only person who is not part of the group of friends is a kindergarten teacher, Elly. She teaches the daughter of one of the friends in her class. A member of the group is back from his home in Germany, and has asked one of the women to help him find a wife. The unofficial leader of the group--Sepidah--suggests that Elly come along to meet this man. Elly is reluctant--for reasons we don't understand--but she finally decides to go along with the plan. However, after the first day, she wants to go home. What happens next isn't so much a mystery as it is a study of a group of friends responding to what may well be a tragedy.Taraneh Alidoosti plays Elly. Alidoosti has been named the greatest Iranian woman actor of the decade. (She may also be the most beautiful.) However, the real star of the movie is Golshifteh Farahani as Sepideh. Sepideh is obsessed with keeping Elly at the resort, and when things turn sour, she is obsessed with trying to hold the group together and make the best of the situation. Whether she will ever again be accepted as the group's unofficial leader is uncertain. Whether the group will even keep together is another uncertainty.My spouse pointed out that the ensemble acting in this movie is amazing. We expect it from "Friends," because that group of actors worked together year after year. But how did director Farhadi get such superb acting from a dozen actors who have never acted together as a group? I assume the answer is an immensely talented director working with highly skilled professional actors.The person who introduced the film is from Iran. She pointed out some very important facts that we would not have otherwise known. For example, the Caspian Sea is renowned in Iran as a attractive, exotic resort area. On the other hand, the surf is extremely treacherous. So the area is not only beautiful, but also dangerous.The introducer also remarked how difficult it is for sophisticated, educated people to maintain a sense of identity in the repressive culture of theocratic Iran. One aspect is that people lie easily, because telling the truth can sometimes lead to serious trouble. Everyone lies easily, even on minor matters. (They don't lie very well, but they still lie all the time.)We saw this film in the wonderful Dryden Theatre at the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, NY. Some of the sea scenes will work better on the large screen, but the film will work on the small screen as well. Find it and see it!P.S. As I write this review, About Elly has an excellent IMDb rating of 8.1. I love to see a great movie appreciated by the IMDb audience.