New on DVD this week.
- Oscar winner for best foreign language Film, A Separation is an exhausting, challenging and morally complex family drama that takes place in modern-day Iran. Issues at stake: aging parents, patriotism, the sanctity of marriage, gender inequality and class discrimination. And thats just for starters.
Simin (Leila Hatami) doesnt really want a divorce. Shes just asking for one because her husband Nader (Peyman Moadi) wont emigrate with their 10-year-old daughter Termeh (Sarina Farhadi, the directors daughter), and she needs his blessing to leave the country without him. The visa is only good for 40 days, and the clock is ticking. Nader wont leave his father, who has Alzheimers. With Simins departure, Nader is forced to bring in Razieh (Sareh Bayat), a woman so devout that she has to call to see if changing the old mans soiled pants would be a sin. Her husband Hodjat (Shahab Hosseini) doesnt even know that she is working for a man living alone.
A serious lapse in judgment results in a death, fingers pointed on both sides, and a journey through Irans labyrinthine legal system. In a culture where whomever makes the most convincing argument, wins, the less-eloquent Razieh and her unemployed husband dont stand a chance: The problem is, I cant talk like this guy, says Hodjat. In the end both Simin and Nader have blood on their hands, so how can Termeh choose between them? Superlative acting and a tense dramatic plot that keeps us guessing helped win A Separation the Best Foreign Language Film last year.
Special features: an evening with Asgar Farhadi, commentary with the director, trailer, and Birth of a Director, wherein Farhadi talks about how he shot his first 8mm film at age 12 and fell in love with the cinema.
- For the first time, both seasons of the dazzling PBS series The Forsyte Saga are available in one collection. Starring Damian Lewis (Homeland) as Soames, the taciturn centre of the wealthy Forsyte family, a London powerhouse in the late 1800s. Irene (Gina McKee) is the woman Soames wills to love him; Rupert Graves plays a man cast out of the clan for falling in love with the governess. The five-disc set includes photo galleries, an author bio and booklist, cast biographies and a making-of featurette.
- And if period pieces leave you unfastening your stays, pick up The Costume Drama collection from Acorn Media. Containing films Doctor Zhivago (starring Keira Knightly), Lost Empires (Colin Firth), the BAFTA-winning Lillie and series one of Upstairs Downstairs, the collection offers a definitive look at the rich production design and costuming of new English classics. A bonus disc, The Story of the Costume Drama features interviews with cast and crew of memorable period dramas.
