Darbareye Elly 2009

Wesley Morris, Grantland: This is the fourth of [Farhadi's] six movies, and by this point he's begun to perfect the art of withholding and is close to mastering emotional suspense. Read more

Farran Smith Nehme, New York Post: "About Elly" shows that the ethical dilemmas of ordinary adults can, with this level of talent, become as gripping as any thriller. Read more

A.A. Dowd, AV Club: This is clearly the work of a master in the making, an artist on the cusp of greatness. Farhadi may be fixated on fibbers, but there's almost no one working today who makes films so emotionally honest. Read more

Peter Keough, Boston Globe: It is perhaps Farhadi's richest, most complex and ambitious. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: [A] suspenseful domestic intrigue deeply rooted in traditional Iranian mores and social codes. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: There are no false notes anywhere in this cast of performers. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: The dense interweave of relationships, a Farhadi specialty, is continually compelling. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: By the time the mystery is solved, it hardly seems to matter. What matters is the casual lack of honesty that almost everyone seems to depend on. Read more

Deborah Young, Hollywood Reporter: About Elly confirms director Asghar Farhadi as a major talent in Iranian cinema whose ability to chronicle the middle-class malaise of his society is practically unrivaled. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Farhadi has written a first-rate script, enabling intricate plotting to intertwine with well-defined characters, and "About Elly" shows him at ease with the wide variety of situations his writing explores. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: About Elly is an exploration of human nature and how sometimes, without intending to, we hurt the ones we love most - including ourselves. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: "About Elly" both clutches us tight and shuts us out, adding wave upon wave of secrets and lies. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR: A thriller perched right on the fault line between modern thinking and Islamic tradition. Read more

Jordan Hoffman, New York Daily News: As with director Asghar Farhadi's Oscar-winning "A Separation," this new film lets truth slowly be revealed through mystery - and after a shocking incident. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: You begin to wonder to what extent the film is a critique of an entire society in which the disparity between tradition and modernity is irreconcilable. Read more

Tirdad Derakhshani, Philadelphia Inquirer: Always, murmuring just beneath the surface, there's a political undercurrent to Farhadi's films, a gentle whisper of a critique aimed at the weight of Iran's combined cultural and political intransigence. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: It has taken six years for this terrific film to work its way back to us, and if possible I think it's even better and more relevant in 2015 than when it was made. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: It's an incisive portrait of a particular society, but it should resonate everywhere. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: "About Elly" is a stunning surprise package, profound in utterly unexpected ways. Read more

Dave Calhoun, Time Out: The film's escalating energy, hysteria even, and moral debates will invite comparisons to the hothouse drama of 'A Separation'. Read more

Alissa Simon, Variety: While not equaling the depth of characterization of Farhadi's previous films, About Elly takes the complexity of his storytelling to a fascinating level. However, the variable quality of the thesping also prevents the pic from being his best work. Read more

Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice: This superb, suspenseful film ... opens as a playful comedy of vacationing couples and awkward romance, one that might be set in the French countryside, but by the end has become a moral drama likely to corrode your certainties. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: It's breezy, then suspenseful, and gradually, crushingly sad. On its own terms, it's a perfect film. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: A fascinating discovery from a filmmaker whose sensitivity to the most confounding motivations is equalled only by his compassion for those who succumb to them. Read more