About Elly

Yet another super powerful film from Asgar Farhadi.

A group of friends, young professionals, from Tehran go to the seashore for a weekend vacation. Group is basically three couples, two with little kids, and there's one guy recently divorced. One of the women, Sepideh (Golshifteh Farahani, she's beautiful and vivacious ) has also invited her daughter's school teacher, Elly, a single woman, with idea of a possible match for Ahmed (Shahab Hosseini) the divorced guy in the group. 

It's looks like a rushed plan, and the villa they book isn't available. So they get another beach front villa, one in dirty and derelict condition. Their enthusiasm and energy is enough for some of them to say yes, and the others to fall in line. There's a group dynamic which starts to work there.

There's fun and frolic and games and teasing, and Sepideh's plan seems to work, as Elly and Ahmed do get some time together and the possibilities appear.

And all of a sudden the entire scene changes. There's the disappearance of Elly and the shift in scene from tranquility and fun, to tension and chaos is so gripping. The sea seems to just add to the characters with its moods and colors.

The group dynamic, the equations between each start to throw up fractures and tears (pun intended). It is said that it's stress that brings out the true mettle of an individual. Asghar creates that stress in all it's nuanced and complex possibilities, between the friends, the couples, and you slowly see the layers beneath, the shades of gray in each ones character.

There is frenzied activity at points, and the rest of the chaos is in the minds, in the characters....

There's group guilt that plays out to squash the one voice of integrity that's struggling to stay alive. There's no moralizing at any point. There's empathy and understanding for each perspective as they work to resolve the issue.

A last scene of the car stuck in the sand, and all of them pushing and shoving to get it out clearly symbolizes that the incident is there to stay.....

For anyone interested in the subtleties and complexities of human relationships, and of the human mind itself, an absolutely wonderful watch.